State of Black America

MindSpace

I frequently read Jameil's blog, specifically her continuing "State of Black America" series. Her latest one was on education.

Now here's where I weigh in.

Sadly, these kids are failing (and we are failing them) because of a vicious circle that just can't be stopped. Their parents are either helpless or don't care, and it's a sad fact, teachers in New York City get burned out FAST. And there's a legitimate reason for that. We are not just teaching these kids. We're raising them. For a good number of kids, we have to be everything their parents are not.

Another thing is segregation is alive and well thank you very much.

As my father says, "It's the Lambs vs. the Wolves."

In NYC there are probably five to seven or so “specialized” high schools. These schools are where you want to go when you DON'T WANT to go to my school. Bronx High School of Science is the “best” and most well known. Brooklyn Tech and Stuyvesant are two other schools.

Last summer I worked in a program to help kids prepare for the test to get them into these "specialized" schools. There were PLENTY of white faces. Also plenty of Black, Spanish and Asian faces as well. Will they ALL get into these schools? No. But the attitude, sadly, is when Johnny's parents find out he didn't get into Bronx Science, guess where he gets sent? Yep... Catholic school. That goes for the ALL the kids... White, Black, Spanish and Asian, they'll get sent to private school. Simply put, their parents do not want their "Lambs" going to school with the "wolves." The skin color doesn't matter... The color GREEN matters.

One of the best talks I had was with a fellow teacher, Ms. Gabby, who gave me the brutally honest words to use to my kids - words that I didn't want to hear myself, but I'm glad I head them. And I did tell them. And my class was never quieter.

She told me to tell them:

"White America does not care about you. Westchester, New Jersey, Connecticut, Upstate... they just do not care what happens to you. Although I can only help you so much, there is only one person who is going to help you claw your way out of here. And that is you. You can not rely on the help of others, because it will not be there."

I sat and listened to her and thought, can I really tell them this? It's so brutally honest. But I did. And I think my kids got it. They know I wouldn't be here if I didn't care about them. In a way I see myself in them... alot of them come from my old neighborhood. When I tell them where I grew up, they say, "Mister... that's THE HOOD." Welllllll...it was an all Italian neighborhood when I grew up, but I won't tell THEM that. "Hell's yes," I say. And we now have a connection.

It's almost the last day. September will be here soon enough, there will be a whole new crop of 22-year-olds from Ohio or Kansas or whatnot who will be teaching alongside of me. They know they're going to be teachers right now, and they're probably crapping their pants. Good. Hopefully they will make it.

I'm excited about where my school is headed. For the past few years, my principal has been refurbishing my school to make it more desirable. She wants kids to WANT to come here rather than it be a school that you HAVE to go because you couldn't get into the school you want. Hopefully that will attract more kids whose families value education - regardless of color.

Not Enough Time

So today was the last day of class. We have testing next week and our last official day is June 28.
Damn that's like 3 weeks away.

So I gave my kids the little "we had a great year" speech, they didn't really feel like hearing it. But it's still my class, so tough shit.

I thanked my freshmen. I know they were bummed to have their teacher leave at the end of the year, but I think we made the best of it.

I thanked my sophomores. I've made the statement that kids don't become human again until the 11th grade. And I believe that's true. The odd thing, today, I saw my sophomores becoming human right before my eyes. They were mellow, they were polite. Even though it was the last day of class, they were appropriate. I am excited to see the adults they will become.

I thanked my seniors. I told them, this was the class I look forward to every day. Aside from being my last class of the day, these guys were just the best. Friendly, funny, polite, not obnoxious... they were a joy to work with. They knew they were out of there, so they did everything they needed to do to get out. But they GOT IT. They knew life is a game, and they are willing to play. I know they will do well.

The big difference betweeen this year and last year is that last year, I was done by the end of May. The end couldn't come fast enough. It was torture, I had to keep handing out busywork to stretch the time.

This year, I didn't have ENOUGH time. The kids had a weird day off last week and we had a "training day." Normally I'm all about having an adult day - a day without kids. But this time I thought, "God, I could be doing more with my kids to prepare them for their exams."

I'm looking forward to the summer.

I'm looking forward to next year.

I'm looking forward to a summer with my peers and relaxing and without kids...

But... at the same time... I will miss them all.

The difference

Recently I took over two 9th grade classes - they killed my late afternoon classes, so it's not as bad as it sounds.

What amazes me is that these kids in the 9th grade are truly kids. They are children in the most accurate sense. They are innocent and unknowing and unfortunately, they are going to "grow up" quickly.

There's a big difference between 14... (freshmen) and 18 (seniors.)

The worst part are the kids who have "grown" up by now. I have a few girls who already have kids... at 14/15 years old. You hear about kids having kids, but when you meet them, it's just heartbreaking.

One of my sophomores is pregnant (15) and she is all excited about having a baby, having a shower, etc. And to set the record straight, the "baby daddy" (a junior) brings my student food EVERY day. EVERY DAY. And to top it off... she makes FUN of the food he brings - as she's eating it of course! He sees her to class and gets her after class. The funniest part is he shakes my hand when I'm in the hall, like I'm her father or something. It's so strange.

Writely

Here's the way of the future. I am writing this on Writely.

I am so excited about this... here's why.

My department got one of those laptop carts. So we have 35 laptops but my boss decided to keep them in a room - hence the "Wireless Lab" was born.

So we have 35 new laptops... a wireless internet connection... and that's it. So if 30 of my kids write 30 word documents... what is a teacher to do? I can't even have them put it on a disk, because these new computers don't have disk drives anymore. This makes life with computers, (which is supposed to be freeing...) extremely limiting.





Enter Writely. Writely is an online word processor. And (right now and hopefully forever) it is free. I can have kids write, collaborate and print and save etc. So they don't always have to go on the same computer, they can work from home, etc.

Thank you Writely. Please don't change. My kids in the Bronx need it.