The Bat Cave Conjecture

This next story is a two-parter, involving two students, the CALM course, and parents tour the school I work at.

One day, Anne and Ryan were in the library, working on assignments for CALM. (For those who don't know, CALM is Career and Life Management. It is supposed to help high school students prepare for life beyond school and is, in fact, the most useless course on the planet.) The assignment Anne and Ryan were working on that particular day was one about their future and setting goals to help them reach that future. Now, Ryan being Ryan, he decided that it was his destiny to be Batman, and he was filling out his papers accordingly.

In the library there is a cupboard, above a closet, that is just big enough for someone to curl up in. This is where Ryan had chosen to sit while working, dubbing it "The Batcave" (a name it retains to this day). While all this was going on, a potential parent was being given a tour of the school, and they had reached the library. Ryan heard the door to the library being opened and jumped down from the cupboard, just as the parent looked into the room.

The stunned parent looked at Ryan and asked "Were you on the ceiling?".

"No," Ryan replied, innocently, "I was in the cupboard."



Part two of this story comes a few days later when Anne was working on CALM in my classroom. Well, "working on" isn't quite right. "Ranting about the stupidity of" is probably a more apt description of what she was doing.

Anne had been ranting for the better part of 20 minutes when another potential parent touring the school came to the door.

"Um, Anne," I tried to interrupt, "There is a parent right behind you."

Not missing a beat in her rant, Anne slammed her hands on the table and yelled "Reasonable expectations here!" meaning, just because there was a potential parent looking, she wasn't going to behave any differently - they needed to see exactly what they were getting into.

Life Lesson: As Anne put it - Reasonable Expectations! Let people see you in all your crazy glory so they know exactly what they are getting into.