Expect better?

I was watching the 7th graders work today and I started thinking about my old classes. The students I had today worked so hard, listened so well - I gave an assignment that might have been a little to hard and they were determined to make a valiant effort anyhow, scribbling down notes as fast as they could.

Why can I tell a kid from Roseville or Stillwater to do an assignment and he or she will, while one from Brooklyn, or even St. Paul, won't? We used to always discuss ways we could make our students feel successful, so he or she wouldn't be frustrated and stop trying. Often, that meant giving below grade-level work. It was hard for me to understand how students could simply accept the cycle of failure. How many wouldn't even try - if it sounded too hard, the name didn't even make it to the top of the page. But, watching the students today I could feel their confidence, their history of success, their trust in a future education. It's empowering, and they are up for the task of a challenging assignment. I was them as a student. I am also the Brooklyn student. The cycle of failure is demoralizing. Why try? Why hope? Why put the effort into something that clearly isn't benefiting me? Kind of like our job search. I have this underlying belief, expectation, that our experience and education will get us sound jobs and stable homes, but this prolonged period has lowered my expectations, and even my desires. Tolga has discourage me from this thinking since before our marriage. Encouraging me to expect better for myself, to make higher goals, to apply for better jobs.

Can I?