A Kid I Taught Called Nick.

Tonight at the Sydney Road IGA I saw a kid I taught when I was at Princes Hill Secondary. He looked exactly the same - that is to say, like a total douchebag. I don't often have personality clashes with kids, but this one definitely irritated the hell out of me, just by being him.

Overall it was a pretty good school though, and the kids generally went out into the world and did some pretty interesting things. I guess I did likewise, moving into alternative education - first on a different continent, and then back here in Melbourne. Lately, though, I've been missing kids like that - kids who are generally excited about knowing and learning stuff, who get your literary jokes, who are engaged politically, who don't want to stab you. I also feel like I've been missing out on a whole heap of serious educational theory - like I've been away in the trenches for the last seven years and have come home to a world that has passed me by a little bit. It's a strange position to be in, and I reckon I've got a lot of catching up to do.

But I wasn't going to start by saying hi to this douchebag. I'm pretty sure he didn't see me anyway - he had his eyes downwards, and was clumping along in that deliberately self-aware, falsely emotive way he always had. I bought some celery and left him to it.