Workshop Response- "The Public School Education"

Response to Alec Nash’s “The Public School Educator”

            The main character, Tom Vance, is a public school teacher. He gets a student in trouble, and then plays hooky and runs into him and his mom, who threatens to call the principle, which will make Tom lose his job.

            I really liked the way you used point of view, it really seemed to fit the story and help it flow well. I think you did a really nice job incorporating the thoughts of Tom without making it seem like he’s talking to himself. I also really liked how you characterized the relationship between Tom and his wife, I could really picture them as an old married couple. I also thought it was great when Tom’s cynical outlook on life came back to bite him when he threw away the guy in the wheelchair’s pizza.

            I think what Tom wants could be a little clearer. It seems like he wants to be done with his job, since he hates all of his students, but then when the opportunity to leave (get fired) he panics and begs Tanya to not tell the principal that he was out of school. I also think the storyline could be a little clearer with the conflict. Though I liked the scene, I wasn’t really sure how the man in the wheelchair played into the story. I think you could also use a little more imagery to describe the setting. I think there should be another reason why the students don’t like Tom so much, because while he may be a bad teacher, Ricky didn’t do his homework, and seems to not do it very often, which makes Tom totally justified. I also would like to see more of a resolution at the end- how Tom feels about it, if his wife finds out, etc.