Aruna Week 11: Power Tripping for Minimum Wage
The first job is usually a slightly cursed rite of passage, a transition from becoming someone fully dependent on your parents to only slightly less than fully dependent. For most individuals, it’s some sort of retail or customer service, which always sounded unpleasant to my social anxiety and so I resolved I would never do it. My father delivered newspapers, distributing the gift of local journalism in cold Wisconsin morning weather on a bike.
But my first job is one of the most uncool out there—sitting at the little-kids table at Kumon and trying to engage human beings a quarter of my height in an academic enrichment program that they are probably too young for. I don’t know why some parents believe their three-year-olds should be doing schoolwork—come on, your child should be playing with other children their age or, at least, watching brainrot on YouTube—but parents have the power to make these decisions. They are authority figures, after all.
Children constantly have authority exerted over them. I remember being a child and hating that. Now I get to exert a bit of authority. My task is simple: to get them through the incredibly dry worksheets they must do and hope they learn something along the way. I know what unreasonable authority figures are like, and I try my darndest to not be like that. But sometimes, ethical dilemmas come up. Like the time at some point last year when one child refused to read… anything! The classic way for a powerless preschooler to escape the oppressive demand of reading words on a page: staring anywhere but at the paper.
This isn’t an uncommon occurrence. Yes, sometimes getting kids to do dry academic work is like pulling teeth. That’s expected. But if nothing worked, if the child transcends tired reluctance and enters the realm of outright, unwavering defiance to my every pleading request, if the packet of worksheets itself intentionally got crumpled and torn…
And the kid, bless his heart, has the audacity to ask for a sticker…
Kumon has vested in me the power to distribute my stickers as I see fit. And I could use this power with magnanimity. I could give grace. Or I could determine that because the kid was so painfully reluctant to do the work, he doesn’t deserve the sticker.
I decided with the latter. No sticker for you, buddy.
This anecdote is incredibly stupid. I have no idea why I was drawn to write about this. But I do remember overthinking that decision afterward. What exactly dictates who gets to earn a sticker? Who gets to decide? What are the purpose of stickers anyway? Positive reinforcement? For what??
Ultimately, the usage of power, even at the smallest levels, involve a lot of factors. And sometimes, it’s important to be cautious as to not abuse it—but sometimes, it’s just necessary, and that’s all that matters.
Hi Aruna, despite what you initially said, I don't think Kumon is an uncool first job, especially because I have multiple friends whose first jobs were also teaching at Kumon. Instead of uncool, I actually thinking working as a tutor is one of the most informative jobs you can have because while I have not worked at Kumon, I have tutored under multiple different organizations and will continue to do so because of the joy and knowledge I get from teaching other students. I enjoyed the humor throughout your blog and the description of the one sticker incident. I must admit, I don't know what decision I would have made if I was in your place but the way you handled the situation definitely represents the authority and power you held at the time. Overall, I liked reading the storytelling of your blog and could relate from a secondary perspective to what you were saying.
ReplyDeleteHi Aruna! I can totally get not wanting to work any retail or customer service job, as on top of it requiring so much social interaction, there are just some of the most miserable people that you'll run into at these jobs. At least when you work with kids, they're a lot less likely to be anything worse than disobedient and annoying, especially since you have all the authority. Speaking of authority, I don't think that the control that they have to endure is necessarily bad, as it provides them some sort of right or wrong that their toddler brains generally haven't developed yet. I'd like to think that, as annoying as being under the control of an adult is, there's generally some reason behind the things they force you to do, as they probably know best. I distinctly remember instances from my childhood when I blatantly disobeyed my parents that ended poorly some way or another. I find the subjectivity of power that you brought up towards the end to be really interesting, as there really is nothing to definitively decide who gets power over who. You certainly had the power to give stickers out, but at the same time, you lacked any power to control that misbehaving kid.
ReplyDeleteHi Aruna, this post is great, I love how you were able to take such a small, seemingly mundane moment—whether or not to give a kid a sticker—and turn it into a broader reflection on power and who deserves authority. The humor throughout made it such a fun read, but at the same time, it was surprisingly thought-provoking. Your discussion on childhood authority dynamics really stood out to me. The way you reflected on your own experience of being under authority as a kid, only to now find yourself in a position of small-scale power, was such a clever full-circle moment. The sticker dilemma is such a great metaphor for the way authority works at all levels—it’s rarely as simple as just following the rules, and even something as small as rewarding (or not rewarding) a sticker ends up carrying a weight of its own. Also, your commentary on Kumon itself had me laughing because it is so real. The idea of three-year-olds doing worksheets instead of, I don’t know, being three, is something I’ve never understood either. You captured that absurdity so well while still keeping the post reflective rather than just ranting.
ReplyDeleteHi Aruna! I enjoyed reading your blog, as your personal experience working at Kumon (which is actually incredibly impressive in my eyes) offered a unique and relatable perspective on authority on younger children. Last year, I took on the job as a swim instructor for kids with their ages ranging from three to twelve, and although it was probably slightly better than "getting kids to do dry academic work," I completely understand the "ethical dilemma" of when to "exert a bit of authority." Just as one of your students "refused to read...anything," one of the six-year-old swimmers wanted to do anything but swimming and practiced kung fu punches, basketball swishing forms, tennis swings, and practically any other sport movements you could think of. It is interesting how these small moments of resistance can challenge us to reflect on the role of authority and balance when guiding kids, as we do not want to "abuse it" or be an "unreasonable authority figure." I loved how you incorporated sarcasm and humor into your writing and look forward reading your future blogs!
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