Fast Times at Marshall High: "Express Yourself"

So my 8th period is once again, for the 4th year in a row now, going to be the class that just cracks me up. Every year this is my biggest class, full of the most random group of students imaginable and thankfully, they all learn to get along and create this strange, eclectic mix to end my day with. Because they are so different, many, many strange conversations, stories and actions happen inside this period.

So World History, in all reality, is all about people doing dastardly deeds and becoming famous for them. The information, regardless of where in the world we are currently studying, usually has to do with money, power, drugs/alcohol and loose women etc. Learning how to make all those sordid details suitable for a 15-16 year old mind has been a challenge these past 5 1/2 years. I do my very best to avoid the awkward conversations that children really should have with their parents or another adult... NOT ME. But it is extremely difficult to do this when you have to explain the concept of a eunuch, a harem, a concubine, incest, STDs in Columbian Exchange, arranged marriages etc.

Today, I got thrown a curveball:

We are finishing up Classical India and China. One of the main points about these 2 places is the difference in their ideas on emotions and expressions. Classical China is extremely unemotional while Classical India has everything to do with emotions. I try to steer this topic towards literature, art, songs etc. BUT there is a section in the textbook which mentions Kama Sutra. Yup... you with me now?!

99 percent of the time my students do not read, so I never worry about them getting to this. But I have some major readers this year... in 8th period. Needless to say, a student asked what it meant today. And before you say it, I promise; he honestly asked. The class had no idea what it was. In my mind I'm panicking because I cannot blow it off because then they will just ask more but I do NOT want a phone call from a mom about this topic so for probably .5 seconds I panic. And then I calmly say something along the lines of "it is just another way to talk about physical expression between two people."

All 34 of them think about this and then the reactions set in. A few giggles and blushing faces ensued, but the majority of the students all scrunched up their faces and went "EWWWW!" Inside my head, I laughed so very hard at this response. The best part was one young man's response. He raised his hand and asked me in a very disgusted and confused manner: "Why on earth do people need a book about that stuff and more importantly, who wants to look at the pictures? That is just gross."

I mean, what do I say to that?! So many things I want to say in response to that are SOO NOT appropriate. :)  I smiled and told him then it is a good thing he does not have to worry about that right now. They laughed and we moved on, but I smiled and laughed about it the whole rest of the day. In a strange way, this episode reaffirmed my faith in the younger generations coming up. Often times I think they are completely jaded and ruined by the time they reach 16 but here was a group of students who were still students.. still children. It is moments like these that I need in order to keep me doing my job and having faith in our youth. Plus, they make for great dinner conversation. ;)