The Girl with the Big Green Eyes by Leeor

The Girl with the Big Green Eyes by Leeor - July 2014 Scholarship Essay

It was the beginning of the school year of my fifth grade. We were a group of thirty students, brash and opinionated, interested in friendships more than in academics. This class was no exception in terms of what many may recall from early school years – the beautiful girl was the ‘queen’ of the class, the handsome guy was its ‘king’, etc., etc., etc. The key to happiness in this class was to have a close relationship with the ruling clique. However, this was not a simple matter and many of the classmates were doomed to remain ‘outsiders’. Being an ‘outsider’ was not an easy task. ‘Outsiders’ were always being laughed at, and generally were made to feel miserable.

During the first few weeks of the school year the ruling clique started focusing their intentions on one of the new girls in class, the girl with the big green eyes. Initially they hid her eraser and stole her pencil. “It was just to have some fun”, the ‘king’ answered the teacher when she investigated the various incidents. But this fun was not mutual. The girl suffered from every interaction with the ruling clique. Gradually the extent of the hostile acts became more severe, with the peak being a boycott.

The poor girl did nothing wrong to be under a boycott. The ruling clique convinced the rest of the students in class to respect the boycott on the assertion that the girl was not cool enough. It was one thing not to choose the girl for group projects or a volleyball game. But it was a whole different thing that almost none of the students from class showed up at her house for the birthday party her parents organized for her. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and once the teacher got informed about the boycott, it was clear that this would not be ignored.

Here is where my teacher Judith, the educator who positively influenced my attitude towards education enters the story. Judith thought this incident was severe, and looking back I now realize she was right in her assessment. For an entire week our class did not follow the curriculum. For an entire week we put on hold preparations for the approaching standardized tests. For an entire week we were focusing on the boycott. Nothing else seemed to matter.

Every student in the class was asked to follow some tasks, regardless the extent to which he or she were involved in the boycott. We were asked to reproduce the course of events, reflect on our motivation to take a part in the boycott and whether we made the right decision, as well as to consider the extent to which we tried (or didn't try) to prevent the boycott or end it once it begun. Towards the end of the week we were asked by Judith to conclude our final thoughts and insights in a creative way, be it a song, a short story, a dance, a music or a drawing. Each student presented his or her work of creation, and we all agreed to finish the boycott and apologize to the poor girl.

I wish I were to tell you that all the students, me included, had an epiphany at the end of this week suddenly seeing the error of their ways. I wish I could tell you that we all felt sorry for doing it and promised not to ever engage in a boycott again. Unfortunately, this story has no happy ending. I’m sure that some students felt sorry more than others, and I’m sure that some students were ready to oppose any future proposition for a boycott. At the same time though, I’m also sure that some students continued to behave in this shameful way, and other continued to be under a boycott.

Nonetheless, this experience left a mark on me, and as evidence I remember the details of the event sixteen years after it took place. I think this was the point in time when I realized that education is not merely about grades and academic performance. Education is not limited to memorizing facts – countries on maps, dates of the rise and fall of empires, and mathematical formulas,– but rather it is also about people and the relationships between them. Education is also the process of making people better than they were before, as well as the process of teaching acceptable behaviors and social codes that would allow a just and caring society to exist and thrive.