The Contest

The Contest


By Fran Lewis


I’m never doing my homework again. I am never going back to that class with that miserable old witch of a teacher. She is a poor excuse for something but I don’t know exactly what. I am not going to clean my room ever again and my sister better not tries and come in here. I am on strike and no one and I mean no one better try and come into this room I am going to put my bed in front of the door and I am on a TOTAL STRIKE! CHANGES MUST be MADE BEFORE I will AGREE TO COME OUT EVER AGAIN. It’s A GOOD THING THAT I HAVE ALL THE CANDY AND JUNK FOOD I NEED TO KEEP ME FROM STARVING AND WASTING AWAY.
This is a story of what happened when I, Bertha finally could not take it any more.

Throwing my books on the floor of my room and slamming the door shut, I, Bertha then took all of the things on my bed and started throwing them all over the place. Then I unmade my bed, stomped on everything on the floor and then proceeded to do the same thing on my sister’s side of the room. I was fuming. I was tired of being called fat, tubby and klutzy. I was tired of everyone laughing at me for the way I looked and I have made up her mind to do something about it.

It all started after lunch in class that day when my teacher asked all of the students to read our fire prevention stories. One of these would be sent to the Mayor’s office to be entered in the Bronx Borough contest on Fire Prevention for the best original ideas on fire prevention. Steve read his first to be followed by Pamela, Frieda, Donna and several other students whose compositions lacked form, proper grammar and original ideas. Next, Iris, Marcia, Annie read their compositions. My story, whose ideas were original, interesting and well written, went last. The class voted that hers should be sent to represent the class and the school. However, my teacher, Ms. Rosen had other ideas and decided to express them in front of the entire class. She really didn’t care if she embarrassed me hurt my feelings. MY Aunt was a teacher in the same school and Ms. Rosen told the class that she had given me the ideas to write the story before coming to school. I looked at her and stared right into her face and turned beet red. The other students defended me and said I; Bertha had written the story in class and completed it alone. Everyone in the class had gone home and discussed the stories with their families to get ideas in order to win the contest for the school and the 1000 dollars they would get for their school’s library and the special pizza party for everyone in the school and a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was their incentive to have someone from the school win. I could not breathe. I started to shake and got really white. But, not this time, not ever again. I turned around to the teacher and said in a loud voice,”You have been picking on me all year you old bag. You have been yelling at me because I can’t walk as fast as the other kids or a race in the gym. You even make fun of me because I am over weight and have trouble walking up to the fifth floor everyday without huffing and puffing. But, the one thing you can never accuse me of is cheating or using anyone else’s knowledge to complete an assignment. My classmates and you saw me write this story in class without any notes or ideas written on any papers. You are the ugliest, meanest and cruelest excuse for a teacher I have ever seen.” Bertha then got sent to the Principal’s office and did not care. It was the first time she had ever really gotten in trouble and she knew that he would call her mother, Rosie. She stomped out of the room, got her foot caught in a chair, fell, but no one laughed. They could not believe that Bertha had finally had enough.

I walked into the Principal’s office slammed down a chair and sat down and said nothing. His secretary told me to wait until he called my mother, spoke to the teacher and was ready to discuss the problem. Bertha just glared at all of them. I had enough of the teacher picking on me, and I had enough of everyone laughing at me for the way I looked. I was not going to take it any more. On top of that my mother even had the nerve to expect me to clean her room on a Friday when I wanted to spend some time with my friends and not cleaning with my sister Tillie. I would show them just who would win this argument and it would not be the adults this time- it would be me, Bertha. By the time I would get done explaining what had happened I would make that old battleaxe apologize to me and in front of the class too.

I sat on the bench in front of the Principal’s office and was really fuming. I would rat out that mean old witch to him. He would definitely fire her for not entering my composition in the contest and for embarrassing me in front of my class. When he came out he just stared at me in total disbelief. “I spoke to your teacher and she told me you were very fresh and rude to her. She told me that you even called her names and insulted her in front of the class. Is that true, Bertha?” I just glared at him and said nothing. I knew that if I spoke I would only make it worse. So, I just sat there and said not a word.

The Principal, Mr. Greenhouse, just stood there with his hands folded in front of him and was waiting for me to answer when his secretary came out and said my mother had arrived. Oh, Great! Now everyone in the whole world will know that I, Bertha am in trouble because my mother is here in school and she just had to drag my sister, Tillie with her. Tillie was sitting on the bench and gloating because I was in trouble for talking back to the teacher and she knew that I will be grounded forever.

My mother did not say anything to me while the Principal was telling her the teacher’s side of the story. I am fuming because he left out how rude she was to me and the real reason why I was disrespectful to her and why I got angry. Ms. Rosen did not like my aunt who also taught sixth grade and was jealous of her because her students really liked her and none of hers did. She was also angry because the Principal always asked my aunt to supervise the musical productions and not her. My sister, Tillie, was going to be the star in the production of Carousel and I might be allowed to play the piano for some of the selections. No one bothered to tell my mom about the contest for fire prevention and why I stormed out of the room and got mad.

I sat there as long as I could listening to them talk about me as if I wasn’t there. My mom, who formed an opinion and never changed it, decided that I must be wrong and never gave me a chance to speak. That is wrong, kids should be able to defend themselves and they have rights too! But, no one ever listened to me. I was supposed to be Bertha the Perfect and never question anyone and just go along with whatever the adults said or did. I WAS NOT GOING TO SIT THERE AND TAKE IT THIS TIME!

I got up and stood on top of the bench and told everyone to be quiet in my loudest voice. They all just looked at me in total surprise. I was not going to go down for something that was not my fault. I probably could have told the teacher how I felt about her in a better way- but being a kid and kids have outbursts and can’t always express themselves the way adults think they should, I did it my way.

“Mom, Principal Greenspan- and even you Tillie just be quiet and listen to me for a change,” said Bertha.” I did nothing wrong. That teacher decided my outstanding composition on Fire Prevention would not be entered in the Mayor’s contest on fire safety because she said that my aunt helped me write it. That is as much as saying that I cheated on a test and got a perfect score because I copied someone’s answers.” I felt that my character and ethics were being attacked and that I was being wrongly accused of something that I would never do. I also felt that she was mean to me and had always made me feel unwanted in her class by commenting on my weight, how I looked and the way I walked. I felt that she was mean, awful and should not be allowed to get away with that kind of behavior towards her students.

They all just stood there and shook their heads and said nothing. I walked out of his office and left the building and went straight home to face my punishment and the wrath of my mother and father for whatever it was I was supposed to have done.

When I got home I decided to make a real statement and went about destroying my room. I would never clean it again nor would I ever do homework or enter a stupid contest.

I locked the door and refused to allow anyone in. My sister wanted to talk to me, but I told her to get lost. My grandmother, who was the only one that I trusted, told them all to leave me alone and let me calm down on my own.

I decided that I was going to write up a list of rules and a contract for everyone in my family to follow. I would even make one up for my class and give it to the Principal before I would agree to go back to school ever again. Just like teachers have codes of conduct for their students to follow with rewards and consequences, I, Bertha thought that adults and teachers needed some too.

I sat and thought about what to write and how I would finally make my point. If this didn’t work I would take drastic measures and take my case to the news or even send my story to the Mayor.

I finally had her 2 sets of rules and posted them on the walls of my room and finally in the kitchen of her apartment. I called everyone together for a family meeting and told them what I thought they needed to do in order for everyone to be treated equally and fairly.

Bertha’s Code of Family Conduct:
1. Never yell at anyone it solves nothing, it just gives you a sore throat.
2. Listen to someone before accusing them of doing something wrong. There are 2 sides and you need to listen to both before passing sentence.
3. Never-EVER- make fun of someone because of the way they look or if they are different.
4. Never laugh when someone cannot do something as well as you can.
5. Never ever make fun of someone’s clothes or shoes or hairdo.
6. Be respectful to adults and be respectful to children too. To get respect you need to give it.
7. Never accuse someone of cheating just because someone said they did.
8. Trust your children to tell the truth and they always will.
9. Give your child a hug before going to bed and going to school.
10. Do not punish your child just because someone says they did something wrong. If your child is usually good, have faith that maybe the other person is not telling the truth.
11. Talk out all problems before they get worse.
12. Remember to say I LOVE YOU no matter what to your child and they will say it to you.

My parents read the rules and they realized that maybe they should have listened to me before grounding me for a month for what happened in school.

I then showed them the rules for listening to students in school and my mother and father agreed to help me by bringing me to school the next day and showing the Principal what I had written.

Bertha’s rules of Respect for Students and Teachers:

1, Never yell at a student in front of others. Never punish a student without getting all of the facts and listening to both sides.
2. Do not embarrass anyone because of how they look, walk or because they are overweight.
3. Never accuse someone of cheating unless you can really prove it. It is wrong to prejudge someone because you do not like someone they are related to.
4. Talk with the child in private to discuss the problem.
5. Be respectful to your students and they will give you respect too.
6. Do not let other students make fun of anyone. It is hurtful and rude.
7. Let the child or children know that you care about them.
8. Children will not all be perfect and sometimes they need extra help that is why you are there.
9. Do not be so quick to pass judgment and give out consequences.
10. Making children feel that they are not smart or as smart as other children if not right. Every child should want to come to school and should feel he or she can learn.

I cannot tell you whether Ms. Rosen changed as a result of these rules. I can tell you that my family heard what I said and agreed with my family rules. As for the Principal, he was impressed with the fact that I stood up for myself. He did not fire Ms. Rosen, but he did put me in another 6th grade class.

Remember: Children are special people and they have feelings too. We are all human and sometimes say things without thinking. But, educators have a special privilege and a special job- You get to teach our most precious diamonds- our children. They need to know you care. They need structure, discipline and love.

Respect is a two way street. Remember that.

Love,

Bertha