Yes, I know this post is titled “Veal” of deception, but I’m not talking about the flesh of a calf used as an anti-inflammatory over an eye injury, or about some alternative cooking method for veal. The adolescent who uttered this phrase meant “veil” but in the way of precocious and indulged students at my school, sometimes misuse creeps in as they reach for metaphors.
Winter is the time that students and teachers struggle, that we wrestle against our inertia, that we resist the urge to sleep under the deep blanket of snow that will soon invade not only our streets, but our souls. As winter arrives, 7th grade students and teachers enter a new stage of wrestling with the animal tendencies of hormonally challenged adolescents and what we hope is their better nature — openness to new ideas, growing connection with the world of ideas, and a fierce dedication to doing the right thing.
My students better nature was re “vealed” at our annual MLK Assembly; students and teachers alike gathered to listen, learn, and be reminded about how to remember.
It’s okay for 7th graders to reach, to struggle, to reveal their own ignorance so they can learn to recover from mistakes.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention 
Okay, you have me so into the French cooking mode that I thought until I actually opened and read the post that you were cooking veal this weekend!
Hah, someday I will cook veal, but that day is far in the future. I am not sure that I have ever eaten veal, so this will be a new experience. Part of the reason I liked the mistake by the student was that it made me think of cooking!