Those Seventh Graders!

The seventh grade class was supposed to be doing some quiet written work, but they were talking. The teacher was about to redirect their attention to their work. However, the words she heard kept her from intervening out of curiosity for what would come next. So what if she was remiss in her duties for a few seconds? Here is what she heard:

Rashid to Tyrone: Really? You lost your virginity?

(In this school virginity is something to be gotten rid of, but usually in 9th grade)

Tyrone to Rashid: Yah! TWICE!

Jermane's E-mail

" Who's Robert Caldwell?" Jermane looked up from the computer he was using, minutes after I had helped him save the first draft of his essay. He had turned over a new leaf and was approaching assignments with a whole new level of dedication.

"He's the superintendent, Jermane. Why do you want to know." I asked as I finished saving the next student's work. It had been a good day at the alternative school.

"I just sent him an e-mail that says 'Eat my b----.' , Oops." Jermane seemed surprised at himself.

"Jermane, what account did you use to send that?" I quickly checked the computer to see that my account was not left open. It wasn't. The password was secure. I explained that this was a very serious issue and must be dealt with if it had indeed happened. (Months earlier another student had hacked into my e-mail and sent the entire staff an e-mail that said f. u. Alarmed and embarrassed, I had managed to convince them that it stood for follow up. My principal advised me to keep a closer eye on the kids at the computer.)

Jermane immediately went into denial mode. That is exactly how I would expect him to act if he was worried about punishment. Not knowing if the message had actually been sent or not, I reported it to the principal immediately, then advised Jermane to beg for mercy as soon as his deed would be exposed. He laughed, nervously, I thought. (But what is nervous for a junior gang member like Jermane?)

At the end of the day, the principal sent me a copy of her exchange with the superintendent. She had indeed contacted Mr. Caldwell. Had he received any unusual or inappropriate e-mail? We had reason to believe that an improper message may have originated from our school. No, he had said, all was normal. What was the message? The principal had replied with the exact wording. Hmm, he had counter replied. Nothing like that had come to him..

You just have to laugh.

Observations of Race and Education

First, a few observations from my own educational history:
1. The only Black teacher I ever had was a high school band director. He was from a city far away and he put an 'r' at the end of my name. He was a good teacher, I thought, and he chose musical pieces to teach us that we had never heard before.
2. Even at the large public university I attended, most of the African American professors were in the African American Studies Program.
3. It was the professors from the U.K. who assigned reading by George Jackson, Malcolm X, and Alice Walker.
Second, some recollections from my teaching history:
4. Most of the Black students I taught in honors classes were from African countries or Jamaica.
5. I've taught several excellent students who happened to be African American in the college bound track.
6. Currently, my attention as a teacher is being drawn to the "achievement deficit".
7. My own daughter attends a high school where approximately half of the students are African American, but at the awards assembly, I noticed only five Black students among the 100 students with the highest academic averages in the class. Hmm...
8. My current students have a very negative attitude toward establishment institutions and values.

So, here are my questions:

1. What are we teaching? Is it of more value to one race than to another?
2. How are we teaching? Are there significant differences in cultural leaning styles?
3. Is the difference we are noticing really because of social class differences rather than racial differences?
And about my students:
4. Do my African American students mistrust every white person they encounter (including me) because it has been mostly white people who evicted them from the last apartment, arrested their uncle, or told them to leave the shopping mall or is it just a teenage thing?
5. How do I gain their trust and respect of my students?
6. I have a great track record in teaching. Why should I have to be of a different race?