I may need to write this in a more than one part.....
As many of you know, when I first started teaching, I did so in adult education. It in many ways gave me a different outlook on life and teaching.
I was 24. Just a baby. Still had hair, wasn't a tub of goo, and still acted " cool."
I taught people trying to get a GED( Good Enough Diploma, as one class of mine called it) and people trying to become U.S. Citizens.
The first story comes from a class I was teaching an algebra class 7PM until 9PM. The majority of which were females who had dropped out for one reason or another and decided to complete school. Most want to go to LIT or Lamar. The average was 18 to 28. This class was all female.
No dress code and many dressed however. Short,shorts, blue jeans, t-shirts, tube tops . This was the 1970s and again, no dress code for adults. Most changed from their work attire to whatever they knocked around the house in and came on to class.
We had coffee breaks( We had a 40 cup coffeemaker) and we didn't care if student sat in the easy chairs in the Teacher's Lounge. In those days, many smoked during the break. Heck, sometimes, we all walked to the store 2 blocks away for candy, chips.
On the night, I was giving an algebra test. And I was sitting on top my desk in the front, when Debbie, my wife walked in. She was bringing me a Coke. She had been in the area and looped by. She sat on the desk by me, and put her arms around me, and put her head on my shoulder. Not thinking, I rubbed her lower back. She saw they were taking a test, gave me a kiss, and said, " You coming home soon?" To which I replied" Probably."
No one was paying attention to the test at that point.
Shortly after Deb left, I was a smart-aleck and said, " That's how you make an A."
To which a tiny, nerdy, glasses wearing girl about 22-23 said, " If I'd known that, I'd had you over to my apartment after class sooner."
To which another woman, mid-20s piped up and said, " Yeah, I can get rid of my boyfriend a couple of hours."
I had to explain that, that was my wife and there was some confusion that I had married a former student.
The next algebra class, before class, the tiny, nerdy girl came up to me before class and said, " I am serious about you coming over after class."
I said nothing, and acted like she had said nothing.
- The second group of students were the afternoon class. Most were either married, or going through a divorce, or were divorced. They were trying to get a GED to get a better job. These were ages 30-45.
Man, these ladies had no boundaries.
If I was sitting at my desk and they cam up for me to help them with math or English or whatever, well, their hands often wandered. And while most just put the hand on the knee, others, put their hand on the crotch. And you had to move their hands without making them mad or making a scene.
Some saw their 24 year old teacher as a " mark" and often said, the kids go to school at 8:30.......or, my husband and kids are gone tomorrow, why don't you come over about 11AM for an hour.....or two.
Had one offer to give me oral sex in an empty class.
You've got to remember once again, I was not the old fat bald ugly teacher you got at Buna.
And for some of these ladies, it was scary.
Now, this wasn't every lady. Many were serious students, I helped on after she graduated go to Lamar and get her English teacher's certificate, but others, well a couple thought I was a homosexual because I did not take interest in " freebies."
It is one of the reasons I got a high school job.
-This is kind of long, I'll tell other stories later in part 2.
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