The Future
May 7th, 2008 by Mr. Miles
*Yo, if this is the future of New York rap, please count me in…son is a beast! His vocab is amazing and his flow makes me think this is what Lil Wayne would sound like if he stopped getting high and actually took out a pen and pad and tried to write coherent, inspiring, original lyrics.
But on to other matters…yesterday one of my co-workers was out and we couldn’t get a sub for her class so we had to adjust.
I had both of our home rooms combined and toward the end of the day, the babies just went bananas. We were playing a kind of math Jeopardy game using my laptop and overheard projector and the kids get really competitive sometimes, which is cool. I dig it when they’re excited about math and are willing to argue their point…but then it got ugly.
The two teams started yelling at each other across the aisle, hurling insults about mothers, possessions, and cursing at each other and I had to shut the game down. I had to talk to them about how their attitudes about competition, communication, and their willingness to belittle their classmates over a game can translate into self imposed barriers for success later in life.
I had one of my new students who came to us from Dekalb county explain to my west side babies what his school experience was like. He told them that when they played games like this at his old school everyone sat in their seats, listened to the teacher, and no one argued like they did during the game. My babies didn’t believe him and they said something to the effect of “you must have gone to a White school”
Pause.
That comment messed me up. They equate bad behavior with being black. They equate anybody who takes school seriously as being or acting White. I was pissed and I had to break down some of my life to them.
Most of the babies didn’t listen. They sat and let me talk but the message was lost on the ones who needed to hear it most…accept except for one little girl. I told her she was really mature during the game because she encouraged her teammates to be more gracious and less confrontational during the game. After school she came up to me and said thanks for talking to the class like that.
Obviously, the feelings are bitter sweet. I got one more student to see some of the light. I’m up to a whopping 5 converted knuckleheads for the year! There is hope!
