Beth Macy

It's relationships testing.

with teachers, with counselors, with folks like Silas' band director and people like Brooke and people like Christine, who was a counselor who said, you know, I have to teach them how to human.

And when she does that, it works.

Well, I didn't know what she meant either.

She was my very first call.

Somebody said, you ought to call her because her job is to help kids figure out whether they're going to go into the military, they're going to go into the workforce, or they're going to go to college.

And when I said, what's the biggest challenge?

She said, you know, right at the start of the conversation, she says, well, honestly, it's I have to teach them how to human.

I said, what do you mean?

She said, they show up to class.

They don't have a pencil.

You or I would have asked a friend for a pencil, to borrow a pencil.

Instead, they kind of

shrug and say to the teacher, oh, I'm pencil, you know, rather than like asking nicely.

So it's just basic things.

And I found the same thing when I was hanging out at the Urbana Youth Center, where they're trying to teach them not only study skills, but also some work skills.

Like people...

teenagers who have never picked up a broom before.

You got to teach them how to sweep with a broom and things of that nature.

And, you know, to take your medicine when you're supposed to take your medicine.