“If you tell the truth, 
you don’t have to 
remember anything.” 
Mark Twain

I was recently asked to share my favorite story from my more than forty years of teaching. While I’m sure there are many I could have shared, this was the first that came to mind.

I was teaching at Saint Lawrence Academy in Santa Clara. My first period class was a course in Social Justice for juniors. As with any first period class, there were times when a student would arrive late. Students knew that when this happened, they were not to come directly to the classroom. Rather, they were required to check-in at the main office. Legitimate tardies were awarded a pass to go to class. If the student’s lateness was inexcusable, their admission pass to class was accompanied by a detention slip.

There was one particular week, back in 2005, when two of my first period students, who commuted to school together each morning, arrived late several times in the same week. When they arrived for class each morning, they handed me the admit-to-class slips they had received in the office. On Monday, I didn’t think much of it. On Tuesday, I began to smell a rat, but I didn’t say anything. The two arrived late to class again on Wednesday and Thursday. Each day, they had an excused tardy pass from the office.

Professionalism is not one of the words that comes to my mind when I think about the administration and staff at Saint Lawrence Academy at that time. It was fairly well-known that preferential treatment was given to some students in regards to disciplinary issues. These two students were well-liked, and rightly so. They were good guys. The office did not hold them to the same level of accountability as they might for other students.

I was giving a brief 20-question chapter test on Friday. As I had expected, the two students arrived late again, just as the last test was being turned in. After accepting their excused tardy notes from the office, which indicated that they’d gotten a flat tire on their way to school, I informed the boys that they could take the make-up test at the beginning of lunch. It would only take, at most, about ten minutes to complete the test. They were happy to do so.

During my third period prep time that morning, I pulled up the master copy of the test on my computer. I added one additional question to the test for these two boys. It should have been quite simple for them to answer:

21. Which tire was flat?

a. Front left
b. Front right
c. Rear left
d. Rear right

The boys dutifully arrived at the beginning of lunch to take the make-up test. I had them sit in desks on opposite sides of the room. When they got to the last question on the bottom of the second page, the look on their faces was priceless. They ended up admitting that they’d been stopping at Starbucks on their way to school each morning. A lesson learned.