“I will be the best principal the school ever had. I will take the time-out room away and instead put in recess. And I will give no detentions and give free time instead. I will make the gym time longer and longer passing periods. And I will let them use electronics in school. And I will make school time shorter and sell the food and drinks that they sell in school for less.”

Eduhonesty: If I had given this boy a little longer to brainstorm, I bet we would have been having classes at Six Flags Amusement Park. He was a likable kid, but getting work out of him took a nonstop, concerted effort. What me, work?

In this time of the Danielson Rubric for grading teachers, kids like this can be nightmares. When my assessment is affected by “Mannie’s” work and classroom attentiveness, my only hope is to explain the process to Mannie and essentially beg for mercy. If the principal comes in, give me your absolute, best effort, I might say. The Mannies of the world tend to be nice kids and usually rise to the occasion. They may even raise their hands and add well-thought-out additions to classroom discussion when the principal walks in. Otherwise, those comments come only when the topic happens to be of interest to them.

And, most of the time, forget about homework, unless mom or dad are sitting right on top of Manny. Homework interferes with videogames. Homework interferes with soccer. Organized sports can be wins with kids like this, because of the need to maintain a certain average to stay on the team.

Sigh. Mannie’s plan has a few strengths, I guess. Maybe I could spend most my day supervising recess under his scheme. I always love supervising recess.