Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Pros and Cons (08/14/14)
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TITLE: "Chapter 25" | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marlene Bonney
08/20/14 -
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“Cassandra Mae Stevens,” announced the college dean, shaking her hand as he handed her the cherished and hard-won diploma.
A few muffled cheers rolled through the assembly as the young woman switched the graduation hat tassel from right to left. Suffering from dyslexia, it had taken her longer than normal to reach this milestone and those closest to her acknowledged her achievement with respect.
Teaching was in her genes, people often commented, Cassandra’s mother, grandmother, and two aunts all in the same profession. Unlike these predecessors, however, Cassie LOVED the challenge of opening locked doors in the minds of high-schoolers. Besides this, it was easier to get a job in the upper grades. Like with most prospective adoptive parents, the “babies” were most desired.
Carrie’s alma mater, Perrysville High school, was in an obscure farm town buried in the cornfields of Iowa. After college and with stars in her eyes, Cassandra accepted the offered Science teacher position in a big city, moving across five states and away from all that was familiar. She knew she was at her best in smaller class settings, being able to get to know her students as unique individuals instead of alphabetized seating numbers in classes with thirty-plus pupils, but compared to her own high school class of 115 kids, she considered this a challenge.
Over time, Miss Cassie’s students fell in love with her, won over by her quick smile, words of encouragement and understanding, in spite of her daunting homework assignments. Her fellow teachers and the school principal were somewhat charmed by her humble demeanor, making them overlook some of her unsophisticated behaviors. She was wholesome and naïve; a breath of fresh air, putting the most jaded of them to shame.
There came a time, however, when these feelings would change. . .
It was half-way through the school year when Cassandra’s history class second semester textbooks were delivered. She was midway through her pre-lesson planning of this new material when the title of Chapter 25 glared up at her be-spectacled face like a pimple on an otherwise unblemished face:
“Creationism—the Great Myth”
She expected this was a “brain-teaser” for a debate requirement, when, to her great dismay, it actually turned out to be discounting God’s creation of the universe as fictitious! And, she was to teach this view as a fact?!
"How can I teach something I know to be false, as true?” complaining to a co-worker.
The veteran instructor advised her to tread softly on the issue, or she’d have the evolutionist groups up in arms; or, at the very least, have parents complaining to the administration.
“What a dilemma, Mother—what am I going to do?”
“Do the right thing, Cassandra; what your conscience tells you.”
Her Scripture reading for the day was insightful:
"And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?" Luke 14-27-30
Cassandra, a list-maker and a risk-taker, had to weigh her options carefully. What would be the probable outcome if she glossed over the chapter as only one person’s view versus the Bible’s account?
On one hand, she could be a witness for God by presenting creationism as fact—on the other hand, she could make parents and administration angry.
She would be doing the right thing, but it might be at the expense of her job.
She would be refusing to compromise her convictions or lose her self-respect.
She could skip the entire chapter, but it was right there in bold black and white for students and their parents to see.
The subject matter of Chapter 25 loomed ominously closer and Cassandra felt like a ping-pong ball slammed between two Olympian players when (Darwin versus God) just in the nick of time,
she woke up from the nightmare, sweat dripping down her face.
“What would I have done,” she wondered as she got showered and dressed for her first day as Perrysville High’s Music Instructor.
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For me personally, I cringed at two things in this story--the use of the interrabang (?!) and the dream resolution. In my earlier works, I had used ?!too until an editor pointed out that they were frowned upon. Personally, now I prefer to allow my word choice to do my exclaiming. The other thing that made me shudder a tiny bit was when it turned out to be a dream. That device is often overused. Personally, I think it would have been a much stronger story if left open-ended, or either giving in to the demands or losing her job for her belief.
I realize that's a lot to put in only 750 words and it could be just my opinion. You did a wonderful job of developing your MC. I felt like I really could relate to her. I loved her small-town innocence and her courage to tackle older students. You also did a fine job of sprinkling the topic all over the story. You definitely give the reader something to think about. This is a problem that is in every public school across the country. Not only do the students have to wrestle, but as you showed, some teachers struggle with the same thing. You did a fine job showcasing it and I enjoyed the story.