Everyday Struggle

Late this afternoon, I found myself in a student-teacher-advocate counselor meeting with a once-stellar student who has taken to referring to himself as “Biggie,” after, well, Biggie, and whose conduct in class has taken a corresponding nosedive. I had theorized that the “Biggie” identity was blame and, if I could get the student and his counselor to acknowledge the same, and to commit to working on eliminating this new part of the student’s self-conception, the problem would be solved. I thought this amounted to a smart, if fairly obvious, approach, and expected the counselor, at least, to agree. I was wrong.

“‘Biggie’ is important to [Student],” the counselor explained. “It’s what his classmates call him and he has a lot of respect and appreciation for the real Biggie.”

“How old is [Student]? Seventeen? Isn’t that past the age at which it is acceptable for one to identify one’s self as ‘Biggie’?”

The ensuing silence was instructive.