One of the students was a young lady. She was very pressed, with her mother pushing her into all sorts of after-school activities. This young lady nearly cracked under the pressure. When she did not do the first assignment that I had given her, I told her to come back to the room to serve detention
"Tiger Mom" does not begin to describe the forceful manifestation of the parents. One mother screamed at his son, calling him "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" over and over. It was a horrible sight. That student ended up being one of the most difficult and cantankerous, a young man.
Then there were two kids, both brothers, who loved to antagonize people. One slight creature was easy to harass because it was so easy to get a reaction out of him. All he did was whine, whine, whine.
The parents just wanted to put their kid in another classroom for three more hours while they busted away at another job.
Ivy was nothing more than a babysitter's club, with emphasis on the clubbing that I endured, and the drubbing the kids instigated on each other. Never had I dealt with so many rude students, children who were inherently unkind to each other, who seemed to delight in torturing each other in petty little ways. The parents, who barely spoke any English, insisted that their children work hard on learning math and English — they also studied Chinese calligraphy.
Every time that I held students accountable for profanity, vagrancy, or other profligate behaviors, they could run to the Counselor, Ms. M., and complain. Sometimes she took my side, most of the time she told me not to be so strict, then the kids would be allowed to walk all over me.
One student, Lee, was a really handful. He knew how to raise real trouble. Refusing to cooperate with a system that he was forced to endure after a long day of school, he rebelled repeatedly, acting up, yelling, making jokes, interrupting teachers. We did the best that we could, the teachers and I, to deal with this creative miscreant. Looking back on it, I understand completely why he acted up so much. I would have gone stark, raving mad if I had to endure three more hours of school every day, plus all the homework that I had been dealt at my regular school.
They were not a happy group, those students. Many of them openly complained about how much they hated coming to Ivy, and I for one did not blame them. Sadly, I was more perturbed about not having enough money, as times were tough for me in those days.
Still, the students had not right to be so hostile and hateful to each other, no matter how unpleasant the circumstances. They called each other kinds of nasty names, throwing things at each other. They cursed frequently, too, playing nasty computer games filled with blood and violence. Very traumatizing.
Did I mention that most of these students were Asians, the segment of the population which most people would assume is the most respectful and diligent in all their studies. Those stereotypes did not withstand any real scrutiny after putting up with the nonsensical dysfunction of that little hole in a wall.