Next Year’s Reflections
Barlow Crassmont
This new guy they brought in can’t hold a candle to Mrs. Brunsky she was with us from the beginning shaping our minds and visions but this Mr. Rullifson looks half her age probably not as knowledgeable nor as wise and he should be to prepare us for the future I don’t think so first thing he emphasizes he will confiscate any smartphone he sees during lesson time we shake our heads in unison glance at the student to our left and right can you believe the balls on this guy judging by his accent he isn’t even a southerner he looks like my uncle Giovanni who drinks and smokes too much Mikey Viviano from the back row asks what happened to Mrs. Brunsky why she suddenly left Rullifson sighs then says I don’t know it wasn’t my call the board was making cuts some heads had to roll a brief silence then when will yours someone shouts but Rullifson chuckles sooner than you think we’re all expendable what’s coming can’t be stopped the girls are smitten with his hipster style and permanent five o’clock shadow but I see right through him he’ll probably bring back CRT and embrace the BLM movement, he’s got wokeness written all over him just what they’ve been warning us about the following week he introduces the Civil War period and its aftermath I knew it I tell Laura Matheson and Adrian Ohndrick during lunch this guy has radical leftism written all over him but it won’t work on me no sir I sit quietly during lessons and tune him out occasionally I glance at the pages he assigns mandatory reading material The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass great I say here we go for days I let it sit on my bed-stand but Rullifson counts down the days of upcoming test on the reading since my grades were already lagging I say what the hell can’t afford to fail it my parents already giving me grief over poor scores so I pick up the book start reading it’s not bad but no way a slave wrote that they weren’t literate when I ask Rullifson he says Douglass learned it from his mistress after escaping from south to Baltimore I don’t know how much of his story is to believed writers like to embellish but no Rullifson says it’s all true every word it was an awful period for African slaves but why do they tell us it wasn’t so bad I ask not everyone was happy when slavery ended especially wealthy plantation owners whose businesses took a hit they ensured to make lives of all blacks a living hell forevermore I think about his words and wonder who to believe anymore my grandparents and community I grew up in or this young instructor who can’t possibly know all he claims to but anyway I’m glad after I pass the test and when Irving Beasly asks me how come you took off the confederate sticker off your vehicle I dunno I say wasn’t feeling it doesn’t really go with the color of my truck like it used to now the winter is almost over and spring is in sights we’re as giddy as butterflies but just before trees begin to bloom Rullifson stops showing up in his place they bring a robot with two black circles for eyes a large screen in lieu of stomach it rolls on tiny wheels and moves in straight lines speaks in a voice lacking authenticity or intonation or emotion tells us it will be covering all subjects English math history geography chemistry and health the only class remaining with human instructors is PE all right we say it’s been a long time coming it’s inevitable but what about all our teachers who worked hard to study pay off student loans put in so many years on the job only to be tossed aside like a pair of torn shoes says Shamika Wykle I wanted to be a teacher what do I do now you better think of doing something else but what she says most jobs are going to automation everyone cutting corners to maximize profits even driving gigs are no longer operated by people but the new robotic unit TEE-chur 2118 says quiet class has begun pay attention or your low grades will keep you out of higher education institutions someone chuckles what’s the point says Viviano from the back everyone goes quiet as harsh reality sets in I straighten in my seat and listen I think of Rullifson and his passion for truth and justice and fairness and respect for the institution of education so I fall in line and embrace the automated instructor not because I really want to but because Rullifson would have wanted me to.