Counselor and Mentor, Too: A Teacher Describes a Conversation With a Student Contemplating Suicide

NYC Teacher Jose Vilson writes: "You look up at the student who didn’t know how to respond to your prompts earlier. She’s fiddling with her pencil, looking studious, impersonating someone who’s interested. You think back to all the times a student ever confided in you that they’ve contemplated suicide, that their homes kept them from doing well in school, that they prefer to have a quiet classroom because they don’t have quiet homes. That they’d rather not be here. Wherever here is."