Student awareness grows along with teacher moustaches
I grew my first moustache sometime early in my high school
career. As I recall, it was of the
”
cheesy
”
variety, meaning not very thick or voluminous.
However, I much preferred having the cheesy stache than no
facial hair at all, so I didn’t shave it for a long time. Looking
back at my senior picture in the San Benito High School yearbook,
the stache is there
– when I look closely – in its subtle glory. I don’t think it
was the first stache, but it was barely visible.
Student awareness grows along with teacher moustaches
I grew my first moustache sometime early in my high school career. As I recall, it was of the “cheesy” variety, meaning not very thick or voluminous.
However, I much preferred having the cheesy stache than no facial hair at all, so I didn’t shave it for a long time. Looking back at my senior picture in the San Benito High School yearbook, the stache is there – when I look closely – in its subtle glory. I don’t think it was the first stache, but it was barely visible.
I think I shaved Version 2.0 of it later in my senior year, and kept a smooth upper lip until I eventually grew a goatee in my early 20s. Since then, I have always had facial hair in one form or another, usually a goatee sandwiched between lazy stubble on my face.
Every now and then I consider shaving it all off, getting a fresh facial hair start and a new look. Then I think it’ll make me look like I did when I was 13 and I cringe and put down the razor.
Then this week I realized that my goatee could serve me well if I choose to participate in an ingenious effort promoted by my teaching colleague, Mario Ferrito. In an impassioned and appropriately serious yet sarcastic e-mail to his San Benito High School colleagues, the English teacher famous for wearing different wigs or disguises for each year’s staff yearbook picture came up with a novel idea for promoting success on standardized testing: ‘Staches for STAR.
“I am calling on all male faculty and staff to grow a ‘Stache for STAR,” Ferrito wrote in an e-mail.
The idea is to post photos of everybody’s STAR stache on a Web site linked to San Benito High School’s site to raise awareness about the test, which not only measures student learning but impacts the school’s rankings. When students score well on the test, the school gets ranked higher and doesn’t face penalties like greater state oversight and loss of extra-curricular activities.
“Deep down I knew that I was falling short when it came to raising the awareness level of my students,” Ferrito wrote. “How could I say that I had done everything possible to help bring awareness of the importance of the STAR exam? I hadn’t grown a moustache yet.”
The moustache part of my goatee does not yet meet Ferrito’s standards, since he demanded “None of this goatee or full beard stuff either. We’re talking about Magnum P.I., Geraldo Rivera, Robert Goulet and Rollie Fingers.”
In other words, big ol’ soup strainers.
Ferrito said he will not stand for excuses like, “My wife won’t let me do it.”
“This is bigger than all of us, man,” he said. “Ask your special lady friend if she wants the best for your students. If she does, she’ll understand (and perhaps come to love) the sweet ‘stache you know your capable of.”
The plan is for Ferrito to bring his ‘Staches for STAR sign to the teachers who are manly enough to participate so he can “take a picture of the languid lip-sweater you’ve got going on” and post it to a Web site “so we can show what you can grow and in doing so, raise awareness on campus.”
It’s not just about manscaping, though. This effort covers both genders.
“Ladies, don’t think that I’ve forgotten about your secret desire to flaunt a fierce fu man chu or pimp the Pringle-man look,” Ferrito said. The sign has a prosthetic ‘stache attached to it so women can participate in the effort. Principal Krystal Lomanto has already signed up to pose with the prosthetic lip piece, according to Ferrito.
As of this writing I am still debating whether I will shave off the chin part of the goatee and let my moustache bloom. Borrowing Ferrito’s words, I am not sure if I am ready to go the last mile by insulating my smile.
I wholeheartedly support any effort, particularly a clever one like Ferrito’s, which reminds students about the value of standardized testing.
“As the ‘staches grow, so will our attention to STAR testing,” Ferrito said, noting that he may organize a big shave-off after the last day of testing in late April.
For a look at some of the ‘Staches for STAR that have been photographed so far, check out my blog at http://thebreenblog.blogspot.com. For a look at my weak ‘stache, check out my columnist picture.
