"Teenage Wasteland"

Of the four stories that we read, this one is definitely the most relatable. I can definitely identify with the son in one way or another. Sometimes people just do not understand other people. In this case, it almost seemed like the parents were pitying themselves so much that they couldn't relate at all to their child. I remember when the mother and father were in the office with the principal or someone and the mother was thinking about how they were being judged. She hated it and felt very pathetic. I don't think that with self esteem issues this large you can be supportiveto your children. It seemed to me that maybe the mother, father, or both had bad childhood lives. They both seemed so timid. They were always afraid to take charge of their son or even be honest with him. Even when they hired the tutor, it was almost as if they had given up on him.

I think that the son did have some issues, but not ones that couldn't be fixed. I think that most everyone goes through something to this effect, but not as extreme. It is hard to live life everyday feeling beneath everyone else and feeling that you are not good enough. I think that this boy had had this feeling for so long and wanted rid of it. When he started being tutored, his bad feelings started to go away. Now this seemed strange to me. I felt like something was going on at his tutoring. Maybe drugs or something. I just don't understand. The whole thing seemed like such a scam to me. I think that it was. Obviously when the parents found out that their son was doing worse in school than before, they may have realized something. I just think that the son felt at home with his tutor. He was someone that the son could trust and be honest with. He felt at home, but without the pressure of having to do well, he did worse.

I highly doubt that the beer was planted in this kid's locker. I mean with a record like that he must have done it. I mean he wasn't the smartest, and he would do anything to be included. It also said that he had been into that kind of stuff before, and I just loved the way that the tutor changed the whole thing around. He is just a young liberal wanting to fight the man. This is exactly why he didn't have much impact on his students. He was to busy making everything political and not providing structure for his students. I am surprised that the school did not make sure the son went home. I would think that the kid would have to stay there until he was picked up. They just let him leave. For a private school, that is not very good.

I really did feel bad about how the story ended. It didn't make much sense to me. This kid's home life didn't seem all that bad. He just had parents who wanted for their son a better life than they had, but they just didn't know how to give it to him. I feel like I missed some very important aspect of the story, but I guess not. This kid just wanted to make his own life and live it the way that he wished.