Along with adjusting to your social settings, trying to study hard, school is a dynamic place. The KUNM Youth Radio Project gathered stories from a variety of youth who all had something to share about their school. Because the student perspective is largely under reported, the KUNM Youth Radio Project wanted to get the perspectives of young people dealing with education in our society. It is encouraged, as readers, to submit your own stories about your experiences with school. There are no names of schools or teachers mentioned and the authors decided to remain anonymous. Several of these stories may strike you as relatable and several of you may even remember similar circumstances in your schools.
The first thing you have to understand about my school is that things spread quickly because we are a small school. The first year that I was at my school we had a substitute who I can tell you now, no longer subs. He subbed my math class. He would tell a student to pass out the work and sit and watch us. I have to say when he did this we all were a bit rude to him. He would talk and we would talk over him. Finally he got up but then immediately sat down. When he sat down his pants rode up just a bit so we could see he ankle. He had a lizard tattooed on his ankle and he had an ankle bracelet. This bracelet was a surveillance bracelet. We all as sixth graders looked at it and then at each other. It took about an hour before everyone at my school knew. When we told the teachers they didn’t believe us. He subbed one more of my classes, a Spanish class. Someone asked about it and he said that indeed it was a surveillance bracelet. We haven’t seen or heard about him since.