Thursday, April 10, 2008

About the future, hope, and yes we can




Last - and only - time I visited NYC was 1972. We visited a teacher in his classroom in the Bronx. The school - PS-something or other - was rundown, in need of paint, and appeared abandoned. Jaime, the teacher, was a friend of the guy, Bob, who took us on the trip. He reflected on how much he loved teaching but how difficult it was to focus and ultimately "teach" the kids within the environment.

I'm not naive enough to think this video is representative of every HS in NYC. Or in the US. These are obviously gifted children. The classroom size alone reflects a special group. Racism is not simply solved.

It is solved through one speech, one election, one YouTube video, one group of people, one conversation.

One at a time. One little instance at a time.

3 comments:

Jackie Cameron said...

Hi Bob. Thank you so much for the link. I am always encouraged to hear young people talking - about their lives, about the world...just expressing their views. This class with their inspirational teacher can be heard because they spoke up - thoughtfully and articulately. When I am working with young people I find that it is easier to get them to speak up than maybe the world outside of schools and college believes ( or wants to believe?). Now we need to start listening!

Bob G said...

Thanks Jackie - the teacher makes a huge difference here. And kids are our hope. Most times they don't get enough credit. I say default goes to accepting them in whatever place they might be.

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