Cox Making A Difference

1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-1-62287-598-6
Verlag: First Edition Design Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Wasserzeichen (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 100 Seiten

16-year old LISA COURT confronts her demons: negative peer pressure, antisocial behaviour, drifting with the crowd at the expense of reaching her potential. Inspired by her teacher, CJ KRISTEN, Lisa launches the M.A.D. (Make A Difference) project which transforms a school, a community and, eventually, due to the power of the internet, goes global. During this time she also discovers love eternal.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cox, Robin

Leseproben

Chapter Two - THE PARABLE OF THE BEAN
(February – March)   “Hey, he’s so cool!” Beatrice whispered to Lisa as they settled into their chairs in CJ Kirsten’s class. “For sure,” Lisa nodded. Word had been circulating around the school about the dynamic, new, good-looking Business Economics teacher. She was not to be disappointed. Tall, bearded, tanned, with sharp facial features, a receding hairline and piercing blue eyes, 31-year-old CJ Kristen appeared the dream man she wished was younger. CJ Kristen had spent time teaching at Thorntree College, a low socio-economic community school located in a gang-infested area of inner London, where it was common to hear gunshots, screeching car tires, police sirens and to see the undertakers removing dead bodies. He had chosen to live in that community to understand the variety of experiences young people and their impoverished families were encountering. His three years at Thorntree College had impacted both his own life and that of his students in a variety of mostly positive ways. Hillfield College Principal, Morgan Rika, who had been at the school for a little over a year and was keen to bring some fresh ideas and new talent into the staff room, believed CJ Kristen was ideally suited to head the Business Economics Faculty. “That’s a cool tan, sir,” Darryl chipped in, as CJ arranged the class in alphabetical order from his class list, despite a few moans and groans from some of the students. “I stopped over in Israel for about a week on my way over,” CJ responded. “Israel? Why go to Israel? Isn’t there a war there?” Lisa enquired. CJ smiled. “No, not really. Sure there are tensions … anyway my parents are missionaries there ...” “Hey guys, it’s the God squad!” Darryl interrupted CJ, who looked slightly startled at this outburst, though remained silent as Darryl’s face went as red as a tomato. “Sorry, sir.” CJ nodded. “Remember it’s alphabetical order everyone.” “Can’t I sit next to Cindy?” “Alphabetical order,” CJ replied. “That’s the only way I can get to know your names. Once I know your names we can move around again.” Lisa noticed that Mary-Jane and Reuben were no longer able to sit alongside each other. Would Mary-Jane survive without Reuben’s assistance, she wondered to herself? Secretly she was pleased that Reuben was sitting in the row alongside her. When their eyes met once, albeit briefly, she smiled warmly. He shrugged his shoulders, remained expressionless and looked away. CJ, as most students had soon nicknamed him after reading about him on the Thorntree College website, appeared to Lisa to have an incredible ability to discipline classes without raising his voice. His ocean blue penetrating eyes seemed to speak to each student as he outlined his plans for the term. He sounded genuine, had a good sense of humor and was not one to tolerate fools gladly. A considerable improvement, she nodded to herself, to his scatter-brained, slightly eccentric and forgetful predecessor, John Parker-Smith, who had accepted a new position at an Independent school in Western Australia. “Life is about choices,” CJ said, introducing a new topic to the class. “Another damn lecture coming,” Reuben muttered to his neighbor, Beatrice. “Hang on, Reuben,” CJ smiled. “This is no lecture, I promise. I want to share a story after which we can negotiate an effective way for us to prepare for your final exam, yet at the same time have some fun.” “Sweet as …,” Reuben blushed. Surely CJ hadn’t heard his comment? “You will be unfamiliar with the Parable of the Bean, I’m sure,” CJ said, as he strolled around the class placing a bean seed on each student’s desk. “A parable, remember, is an allegory or a story that is not true, with a message behind it for us all.” CJ paused, allowing time for the students to grasp this important definition. When he had finished handing out the beans, he returned to the front of the class and continued. “Now, Jack and Susan Farmer had two sons and a daughter, John 18, Angela 17 and Mark 15. Jack owned a very successful farm near Waipu. I believe it’s a couple of hours drive north from here.” CJ used a remote control handset to place a variety of PowerPoint slides on the large screen at the front of the classroom to illustrate the parable. “One day during the Christmas holidays Jack Farmer gathered his children around the kitchen table. “When I retire in a couple of years’ time,” he informed them, “one of you will have to manage the farm. You have all worked with me on the farm, so you know what’s involved. You are old enough to make choices and decisions. I am going to give each of you a six month project. Whoever has the best solution will end up managing the farm. Of course, if you want to move off the farm and follow another career that’s fine. Here are three packets each containing 500 beans, one packet for each of you. I am also giving each of you a patch of land alongside the river in different areas of the farm, land that I have allowed to lie fallow for a couple of years. This land is pretty much the same quality to ensure no-one has an unfair advantage. Mum and I will offer you all the help you need. You may not purchase any fertilizer or anything you might need for your project without chatting to me first. I have opened a file for each of you on my laptop. You must create your own secret code that will prevent anyone else entering your file. This is a friendly competition, even though there are big stakes. Feel free to use the Internet … as you well know, there’s a world of knowledge out there,” he said looking up at the ceiling and waving his hands to the sky. “There are two aspects to this project,” Jack continued. “Firstly, show me how you can develop this bean crop if you had to start from scratch. Secondly, after six months imagine your bean crop is the most successful in the country. How would you set about marketing the beans? Remember all the discussions we have had, especially in recent years, about the brand name, marketing through Facebook and so on. Feel free to develop an export marketing plan as well. Draw up a business plan which will include all your basic costs and, most important, detail how you would include some way of improving your local community by contributing a percentage of the profits. You all know the charities mum and I regularly support. And, remember, I’ll say it again, mum and I will help. All you have to do is ask, okay?” The children nodded, asked a few questions and then went their separate ways.” CJ once again paused for effect, smiled and continued. “All the children were still at school, so, with limited time, they had to plan their projects carefully. John was full of confidence. In fact, he was quite cocky. He was already driving the tractors and other vehicles around the farm and to and from Waipu. He had watched his father at work for years. He quickly ploughed a portion of his land and planted his beans just below the surface near the river. Using a watering can, he watered his beans diligently on a daily basis and also kept the area free of weeds. Soon 200 beans had sprouted little shoots. Then John became distracted. His friends mocked him because he was never with them. He began to neglect the watering and was too proud and embarrassed to tell them about the project. Uncharacteristically, he even skipped school on a few occasions. The weeds began to grow in his patch. A month before the deadline John tried to salvage his 30 remaining bean plants. He cleared the area of weeds and again watered on a more regular basis. He never bothered to record anything on the computer and his business plan was so hastily put together that his father refused to take it seriously.” CJ paused, pressed some keys on his laptop and a DVD of ‘The Fools’ Paradise’ major hit, It’s all over for you, appeared on the screen. Comments like “Cool!”, “Choice!”, “Yeah, bro!” could be heard as some of the students moved their bodies to the beat of the music or tapped their desks with their pens. At the end of the DVD CJ returned to his laptop, reactivated the PowerPoint presentation and continued the parable. “Angela was a competitive girl who enjoyed a good challenge and had spent many hours on the farm helping Jack over the years. She also ploughed her land and, after adding some fertilizer, planted the beans in shallow soil near the river. She watered them diligently and, within six weeks, 250 beans were sprouting. She kept the area free of weeds during this time and, after consulting Jack, borrowed a spray to keep insects off her new bean plants. She spoke to Emily Shaw, a widow who farmed in the area, to gain some ideas for running a farm in a mostly male dominated economy. Angela was keen on her netball, though, and soon found herself neglecting the beans in favor of the netball. Her schoolwork began to slip, especially after she began dating Justin, the school basketball captain. She was seldom at home. She managed to salvage 15 beans and also put together a hasty business plan, but the reality was that she had allowed the weeds and insects to throttle her beans. After initially recording the results of her work on the computer, she lost interest, producing incomplete and inaccurate records which failed to impress Jack.” At this point, CJ once again returned to his laptop and played a DVD showing a...