A
Word
Fitly
Spoken
was
nervous
and
wondered
if
my
students
could
tell.
All
I
really
knew
about
the
class
I
had
been
assigned
was
the
title:
Survivor
English.
Attempting
a
look
of
confidence,
I
scanned
the
“survivors”
in
this
tenth-grade
class.
One
young
man
in
the
front
row
sported
a
black
leather
jacket,
a
look
of
mild
contempt
on
his
face.
Two
girls
appeared
to
have
been
thrown
into
chairs
at
the
back
of
the
room,
their
coats
barely
reaching
the
hems
of
their
miniskirts.
One
student,
her
hair
completely
disheveled,
chewed
gum
menacingly,
and
I
had
the
impression
that
she
was
suffering
drug
burnout.
Three
young
men
at
the
center
of
the
class,
apparently
close
cohorts,
giggled
and
rocked
in
their
chairs.
I
could
detect
the
faint
odor
of
marijuana.
Daniel
Flinn
is
currently
the
Acting
Chairman
and
Assistant
Professor
of
the
Department
of
Language
and
Communication
at
the
University
of
Eastern
Africa,
Eldoret,
Kenya.
This
course
would
certainly
represent
my
biggest
teaching
challenge
yet!
Over
the
next
few
weeks,
I
struggled
with
the
wildest
group
of
teenagers
|
had
ever
taught.
[I
confiscated
switchblade
knives,
a
host
of
other
illegal
items,
and
trashy
literature.
Once
in
a
while
I
was
able
to
teach.
Even
then,
after
a
reasonably
successful
lecture,
1
felt
as
though
I
had
barely
won
one
skirmish
in
a
major
battle.
Mostly,
though,
1
felt
defeated.
Defeated,
that
1s,
until
God
led
me
to
change
my
views
and
my
techniques.
On
that
fateful
day
in
the
teachers
lounge,
several
of
my
fellow
teachers
Picture
removed
were
discussing
my
Survivor
English
students.
“Did
you
see
Ken
today?”
asked
a
teacher
I
admired.
“Pretty
stupid
kid,
huh?”
he
continued.
“Yeah,”
responded
another
teacher.
“Wouldnt
you
just
like
to
shake
him?
Sometimes
|
wonder
why
we
even
bother.”
“Right,”
I
thought.
Why
did
I
bother?
But
then,
quite
unexpectedly,
I
had
a
flashback
to
a
day
in
the
sixth
grade
when
I
sat
outside
the
principal’s
office.
Shaking
in
my
chair,
|
waited
to
see
a
man
|
neither
liked
nor
understood.
|
don’t
recall
why
I
was
summoned
to
the
office,
but
I
do
remember
that
I
only
BY
DANIEL
FLINN
ADVENTIST
EDUCATION
e
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER
1986
®
PAGE
10