There is an odd thing that happens to some students when they enter the mid point of their high school careers: The reasoning parts of their brains shutdown leaving in operation only the parts necessary to maintain basic physical functions.

This usually manifests itself as attitude and excuses.

Today, a student I’ve mentioned before (the one who gave me the “Penis Man” superhero) arrived to class five minutes late. He then put his head down and made ready to take a nap.

I went over and woke him up and reminded him of the rules: if you want to sleep, you may leave the classroom and go sleep. He then told me that the reason he wasn’t working was that he’d lost his paper. This, to the teenage mind, is a logical excuse. He lost the paper and therefore he now has free time.

I told him to get a notebook and copy the questions from someone else, as three other students had already done. I also reminded him he hadn’t done his superhero speech yet and should work on that. He said “okay” which is Japanese high school boy for “fuck you” and then did his best to try to sleep sitting up.

When I reminded him he needed to hurry because if he didn’t do the superhero and supervillain speeches he couldn’t do the final project (which requires the two characters) and then he’d fail the term and, almost certainly, they year.

He said in Japanese “I don’t understand English. Har har har.” Which is Japanese high school boy for “I don’t understand you which means you’re stupid. Har har har.” Again, to the teenage mind, this makes logical sense.

I told him it was too bad he’d lost his papers because he’d need them next year if I was in charge of the grade. He said “I don’t understand English. Har har har.”

I said “I know” and failed him for the day. He never did get a chance to sleep.