Trying to Take Evil Out of the Classroom

I began the difficult task today of teaching my students how to do their taxes. How many of you would know how to do your taxes without the assistance of tax software or an accountant?

Well, I had a bunch of words on the board and the weekly schedule with THREE DAYS of tax practice this week for my Coop kids. So when 3rd hour came and my Law class walked in, to tackle the big topic of reviewing for their Contracts quiz, I was confronted with an interesting question.

I have an inquisitive student in Law. He's brilliant. And observant. So after several kids had called me over to ask questions on their review guide, this student called me over and asked, "Are you trying to take evil out of the classroom?"

WHAT???

It must have shown on my glass face. So he pointed at the board and said, "taxes."

Right. Are taxes evil? It depends on how you look at them. Where would we be without them? Our roads would be crappy. Funding for defense, social security, medicare, research and many other things, not the least of which is the 6% we pay towards interest on our massive national debt.

So we need to pay taxes. As I told my students, if you have to pay them every year, would you at least like to be informed about why and how they work?

Most didn't know when Tax Day was. Many didn't understand that you got credits and exclusions and deductions. Ohhhh, so many things to teach!

So I suppose I am taking evil out of the classroom. Funny way of putting it but I found it pretty humorous. After all, something big and daunting can be seen as evil until you study it and understand it a little better.

Like Bill Cosby said, "Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it." At least in this case, decide to understand it so you are no longer afraid of it.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!