How to tell students they are dumb, and they will love it!

I am supposed to be grading finals. But instead I am thinking about a picture that my class took on the first day of school. Each year, I have all of my students take out their phones and take their best selfie. I tell them under no circumstances are they to erase it. We call it the September Selfie.

And then I tell them the unfortunate news.

"The person in that picture is dumb. They don't know jack squat about chemistry. You didn't think that person was dumb, but over the next nine months, we will prove that they are."

That is how we start the year. And then we join together to overcome the inadequacies of the person in that photo. I use that photo throughout the year. Whenever I feel the class starting to struggle. When I can hear their fingernails clawing at the precipice called stoichiometry. When heads begin to sink. We look at our September Selfie. And we remember how dumb they really were. Look at all the amazing skills we have gained since that picture was taken. That person didn't know how to use significant figures. That person didn't know about the makeup of an atom. That person thought moles lived underground. That person was dumb. But look at where you are now! You are much less dumb than you were!

I know this sounds harsh. And some might disagree with calling fragile kids "dumb". But they need a marker to measure themselves against. They need to know that the old person is gone. They need to see that they haven't just been wading aimlessly in the muck of chemistry. They need to KNOW that they have grown.

I just received a text a few days ago (during quarantine) from the stereotypical jock. The one that wouldn't have taken chemistry were it not for the cool kids going there. The one that failed every test in the first semester. The one that had to swallow his pride and ask for help. The one that the girls swoon over, so long as they don't know his academic inadequacies.

And in the midst of the world turning on its head amid a pandemic, I get this text.

And there it is. The kid that suffers, but needs to be reminded that it is worth it. The kid that barely stays eligible for sports. The kid that will get a B in the second semester of chemistry. That is winning. They just need to know it.