This blog contains comments from EDUCATORS who find themselves on the front lines of a war that has been waged against public education across this nation since the landmark decision in 1954 of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka. Herein are the thoughts of Educators who serve young people across America today. While the daily challenges to increase student achievement have been discussed in circles across this nation, few of those voices include those who are the true soldiers in this battle to educate young people.
The lessons taught to students, present and past and their reactions to various assignments, can serve as a mini-lesson for those adults who are responsible for raising children. We are particularly concerned with those students who are being raised in one of the many poor and segregated urban centers across this nation. This blog serves as an authentic assessment of where our young people are in relation to what is expected of them and it will enable the reader to visit the urban classroom to gain insight into....THE CHRONICLES OF AN URBAN EDUCATOR....
Lesson # 1
Students were assigned a reading selection by Niccolo Machiavelli. As a warm-up writing activity, the students were asked to think critically about the question, Is it better to be loved or respected? The answers my students gave were, without exception, a powerful example of the real and current challenge in public, urban education. The students all asserted that it was better to be RESPECTED than to be LOVED.
Shocked and deeply pained at the same time, I utilized myself, as so many other urban educators do, to teach a poignant lesson about how, while I understand the importance of respect in the "hood" context, "there is no paradigm known to man that transcends the infinite power of love." As I shared with my students how the love I receive from my parents empowers me to BE regardless as to whether others respect me or not, they each began to nod their heads in affirmation that they too, after additional instruction and more time to think, desired the unconditional power of LOVE rather than RESPECT.
Consider the many layers of challenges that a teacher has to address and peel away before any real information can be taught. Listen to the lyrics of the hip-hop and rap that these young people listen to. Read the comments of professional athletes and entertainers that these young people sadly and too often idolize for shallow, yet dangerous reasons.
Contemplate the ramifications of generations of young people who assert that they would prefer respect rather than love and what does that mean for the Urban Educator in general and to the larger community more specifically?
