The Student Who Almost Got Away

What My Students Taught Me

As a young teacher, Ingrid Chung saw herself in 12-year-old Kayshaun Brown. “What I saw in Kayshaun was the same type of intelligence, rebellious streak, and desire to go against authority that I had as a high-school student,” she says. Chung first taught Kayshaun, who goes by Kay, in her seventh-grade English classroom at the Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science in the South Bronx. That year went smoothly enough. Kay was bright, lively, and charismatic. And because of their instant rapport, Chung could get the boisterous Kay to behave when some of her colleagues could not. But as Kay grew, so did his capacity for troublemaking. By the time he started the 10th grade at Urban Assembly, the teen often skipped school, disrupted class, and swore at his teachers. Chung grew increasingly concerned that he would drift away, and that she would lose him. This is the story of her efforts to keep Kay in school. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/08/the-student-who-almost-got-away/535776/