Finding innovative approaches is an ongoing challenge, says Kester, who taught eight years in public schools. Many students are easily discouraged, having lost faith in their ability to learn, she says. Their capacity for hope, in many cases, is minimal. They've just had so much failure. . . . For us to try to get them to believe in themselves again is really hard.
Success often reveals itself slowly, sometimes years after a student leaves Havern.
Pasquariello says wryly. Kester recalls one angry young man. The first year, he was practically throwing chairs at me, and I had to send him home several times,'' she says. He was so volatile with absolute rage at his inability to read - a very bright boy. Now, he is such a gentleman.