Searching for Hope: Life at a Failing School in the Heart of America

21. I Like to Solve Problems

+ + + 21 I LIKE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS. Among the hundreds of students who passed through Manual every day, somewereimpossibletomiss. Students such as Jammyra, who seemed like the student body’s elder stateswoman. Or Jeff, the calculus student who walked the halls in his crisp rotc uniform every Wednesday. Or Melissa, the freshman with the painful home life who seemed to cover it up with a smile and a handshake aimed at every adult she passed. Or Jessica, the special education student who had trouble communicating but had an innocent gaze that was hard to forget. Or, of course, the occasional gangbanger who menaced the neighborhoods around Manual and whom everyone in the school knew to avoid. And then there was Raymond Rutland. The eighteen-year-old senior was perhaps the most conspicuous student of all. He stood out even when crushed among dozens of other students as he walked through the crowded hallways between classes. He looked like no other student. He wore his khaki pants high above his waist, like an old man would, with his belt pulled tight and his shirt 194 searching for hope tucked in deep and buttoned to the top. He wore his student id clipped to his shirt collar at all times and his house key hung from a lanyard around his neck. He walked fast and with determination through the halls, always carrying a stack of books and a calculator. His head jerked to the side occasionally, and he twisted his hand in front of his face frequently. And when someone said hello, as teachers and fellow students constantly did, he was more likely to give them a thumbs-up than a few words. Raymond had a form of autism that limited his ability to communicate. But he also possessed an inner drive that stood out in his school. That drive had given him a reputation throughout the building as perhaps the school’s hardest worker and a grade point average that placed him among the top ten in his graduating class. “You’ll assign the work, and he’ll do twice as much as you assigned ,” said Cheryl McManama, one of Raymond’s teachers. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” She and Raymond’s other teachers repeated the same mantra: if every student at Manual worked half as hard as he did, the school’s massive problems would be largely eliminated. Inmid-FebruaryRaymondreceivedaletterfromtheUniversityofIndianapolis .Itwasaletterhehadbeenanticipatingforseveralweeksandthathehadbeen relentlessly asking his mom and teachers about. His mom opened it on the day it arrived and read it to him. “After a careful evaluation of your academic records we are pleased to inform you that you are eligible for full-time admission to the university,”itread.TheletteradmittedRaymondintoaprogramthatwasaimed at students with learning disabilities. In a high school where a majority of his class was not graduating, or not graduating on time, Raymond was a welcome success story. The road to this point hadn’t been an easy one. That letter was the result of hard work on his part and tremendous resources aimed at him by the school district. But the investment was unquestionably worth it, and Raymond, though not big on conversation, was a student I wanted to get to know. On a Friday in late February, Raymond was in his U.S. history class. He was sitting up straight and listening as teacher Robert Palmer talked about the recent decision by one of Indiana’s senators, Evan Bayh, to not seek another term in office. This wasn’t one of Raymond’s favorite classes. Because of the occasional essay tests in the class, he struggled to get a B, performing much better in classes in which the answers to tests and homework were more clearly defined. He found abstract questions difficult. So although he could memorize the amendments to the Constitution, he was left at a loss when asked to explain why they were needed. I like to solve problems. 195 A school employee named Sylvia Davis sat in a chair a few feet away from Raymond, as she almost always did and as she had for years. Davis was an ips paraprofessional assigned to Raymond. She traveled from class to class with him, helping him understand the directions given out by the teachers and making sure he was able to communicate when necessary. She was his in-class advocate, charged with letting teachers know when he needed more time and...