During my junior year of high school, I had the privilege of playing with a national string orchestra in Indianapolis. I asked each of my teachers to sign a permission slip. All of them congratulated me--except one. My Algebra II teacher initialed the form grudgingly, saying, "I don't promote things like that (i.e. field trips.) If the (principal's) office says I have to, though, I'll sign this."
Wisely, I just thought my response instead of saying it. As the teacher initialed the form, I thought, "Let's see...A once-in-a-lifetime chance to play with other musicians from around the country at an advanced level or drawing lines on graph paper and finding x and y-intercepts. I think the choice is clear."
