Education vs. Reputation

Intelligence is a weakness.

Intelligence isn’t a characteristic associated with “being thug” or “keeping it real”. It’s ridiculed more as “acting white”. Yes folks, it’s still alive and kickin’. And this isn’t reserved for being smart. “Acting white” goes for sound, dress as well as activities. I was called white boy for playing soccer (hell, in the seventies not many white Americans knew anything about soccer). One of my favorites happened this past year when I wore a polo shirt to school and a student shouted, “ I see you wit yo white boy shirt on, Mr. Fletch”. How ones parents behave is also outlined in the acting white category…asking about your day, involvement in school activities or having a dinnertime is “white people stuff”. I guess being involved in the PTA or coming to parent/teacher conferences is also acting white. Maybe this is why my attendance during parent/teacher conferences is so low? Last year, I had close to one hundred students and only met four parents. And believe me, I had far more than four failing students. One day while asking me questions about my life a student asks,
 - “Are your parents white?”
-“What?”
-“ I mean, were you adopted or something?”
-“No,”
“Are you from Africa or something?”
- “No…why?”
-“ Well, because you don’t sound black.”
-“You mean, I don’t sound like what you think black is.”
If I were to think of the sound of black I would hear my mother, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Sidney Poitier, Nelson Mandela, and a host of other authors, musicians and activists that fought to make sure black sounds strong, productive, and creative.

Well, now instead of being teased and called white boy, due to how I sound or because I had good grades, I’m defending those kids who are being teased today. I’m defending them in the form of encouragement. For these kids to simply hear from someone/anyone that what they’re doing now is worth the (unnecessary) struggle in order to be successful tomorrow is like a shield that they can use to fight off the negative statements that at times fill their day. I even heard one that I hadn’t heard: “Hey, man…why you tryin’ to be white and go to college?” Let’s ask the students at Howard, Fisk, Tuskegee or Grambling the same question. For many of my students the fear of wanting to be recognized as being smart is masked with hidden actions, laughter, and jokes about failing. I’m thinking to myself, wow, this mind-set is still as strong as ever. And it will stay this strong as long as non-white students keep this mentality. What do the white students say to one another, “stop acting Asian” if someone achieves academically.  Many of my students have to be taught that being intelligent can be a functional, purposeful part of their reputation and that this thinking of “acting out” as something positive and desirable is hurting everyone.

I’ve returned tests and those who I thought would do well did. The grades aren’t pretty. This is the first weeks of Spanish one …memorization of vocabulary (paper, pen, pencil, book-bag, classroom etc.); numbers and the alphabet were the bulk of the test. What’s it going to look like when I begin covering grammatical concepts? As I gave them back their tests, there was laughter and teasing—“Aw, man, you got a 4…I beat you! I got a 10 (out of 40)!” And this type of laughter was the norm after receiving poor grades. But what bothered me most were the comments towards the students who did well—“So you got a B…don’t nobody care!” These students with good grades are also the leaders in almost all of the extra-curricular activities in the school. They are the active ones that keep things shakin’ around here. They are the participants in their future. They’re busy growing by action, not waiting with words (along with a feeling of entitlement).  But I’ve also heard negative comments about these kids because they are motivated and achieving. There is very little peer support. Jealousy and anger take the place of compliments and kindness.  “So, they ain’t all that!” “Don’t nobody care about their award! Why they gotta announce that!” “They think they better than people!” The last line always kills me. I mean, because a person is trying to be their best, their focus is another person! No, their focus is within. And the message is that you too can achieve this. Why haven’t some people learned to encourage or congratulate someone who achieves, or to look at someone’s success as encouragement or proof that they too can achieve if they work? So, is constantly failing being black? And is it something that we should wear with pride? I hope not. Until more black children (and adults) are taught to try and lift someone up instead of pulling them down, the type of improvement that will make a difference in a community will not come.

Ghetto is also an absence of self-respect. We are at a point where it seems there is no understanding anymore that certain behavior is unacceptable for people who truly love themselves. Ghetto is embracing the worst instead of the best. Call it aiming low. (Cora Daniels, Ghettonation)

Unfortunately, this is the mind-set that I deal with everyday. I’m teaching in an environment that’s more concerned with “ keeping it real”. Keepin’ what real, ignorance? Or as Chris Rock stated, “keeping it real dumb!” As Kenny Smith stated in an article for Yahoo Sports (on how pro teams are distancing themselves from troubled players) maybe they should focus on “keepin’ it right”.  My students will fight in order to represent their “hood” but won’t fight as vigorously to get an education. Well, this hood is no longer just a place but it has transformed into a mental state. As Cora Daniels states in her book GHETTONATION:
 Sometime after the Jewish slums and the urban slums of America, after the dream was deferred, ghetto stopped being just a place on the map and became also a place in the mind. Now ghetto no longer refers to where you live, but how you live. It is a mind-set.

It’s a mind-set that rationalizes negative behavior because, “we black… you know how it is.”

 It was a beautiful September day…blues skies, sunny, and the media was there to report on the huge college fair on the school’s campus. A positive day for all involved. It seemed to be a hit. The kids were able to get a lot of information about schools all over the tri-state. I think they needed the small escape to the future (We all do. It can be a great source of hope) until two students decided to steal the purse, keys and rental car of one of the representatives of one of the colleges! Yes, it’s true. So, we talked about how they felt. The anger and frustration was high. Sadly, it didn’t seem to bother a few students. One said, “That’s just how it is here. You know black folks.”(We’ll return to these statements later) Most of them are angry because they know that the action of a few will have a negative affect on the majority. A young woman screams at him, “That’s why people don’t give black people nothin’!” Another student asks, “How do you know they were black?” I said, “That’s a good point. Let’s talk about this. Why is it assumed that when something negative goes down, it’s done by blacks?” As we try to talk about profiling, the importance of evidence and other dangers of assumption a student raised his hand and said, “Mr. Fletcher, I understand that you tryin’ to make us think and everything but believe me they black. I know both of ‘em.” Someone else chimes in –“Yeah, you in the hood now, Mr. Fletcher. This ain’t no fancy private school!”
Why is this “that’s the way it is here” acceptable? What’s with this mentality? The unfortunate reality is that the action of two young men is something that the reputation of the entire school must deal with. It will also be something that every black student will be associated with because unfortunately, even today we have to make sure that we don’t disgrace the race.
They already sound so defeated. This is the first step of mental poverty. And “you know black folks” is an excuse that’s mentally used as permission to behave in unacceptable ways. Are parents fueling this? Are parents in the “hood” only teaching right vs. wrong, positive vs. negative until a certain age now? Are kids being taught to accept where they are and just make the most of it? Is this where “just do what you can” originates? Are only “other” parents supposed to want more for their children?  To have the mind-set that you can only learn if you attend a private school or worse, that they are not supposed to learn (academically) in the “hood” is the mental slavery that I discuss with many of my students almost everyday. They have allowed these thoughts to become a part of their culture/reputation thus to become defiant with bravado actions and laughter that say I don’t care. If they don’t believe that they are supposed to learn, who is?

Thus, the now familiar problem where black students from solid backgrounds mysteriously tend to hover at the bottom of the class and baffle educators is a late twentieth-century problem. Black students who reject school as “white” do so while ones who lived while lynching was ordinary pursued education obsessively. Black parents who do not instill in their children a sense that failing in school is unacceptable, and are more inclined to complain about “subtle racism” at the schools than to make sure that their children do their best despite it, are a new phenomenon: The priorities were more often the reverse for these parents’ own parents and grandparents. Clearly, a great many black folk are approaching education differently from the way they did before the late sixties…. to set the bar lower for black students out of a sense that the achievement gap is due to socioeconomics is mistaken. Because the factor is not socioeconomic but cultural and self-perpetuating, the lowered bar only deprives black students and parents of any reason to learn how to hit the highest note. – John McWhorter: Winning The Race

Unfortunately, many of my students are not recognized for their academic achievement. Therefore, they rely upon their reputation of violence and defiance in order to feel as though they are doing something with their lives:

10/30

 Last week there was an eruption of violence. Fights everywhere! I think the total was ten between 11:25-12:30 (lunch). From what I heard, a boy had his gold fronts pushed into his gums, one young lady (who is pregnant) was fighting a boy. I witnessed the end of a girl being jumped on by three other girls in the waiting area of the office! The kids say the fights were mostly neighborhood related. What gets me is the neighborhoods they’re talking about are mostly classified as low-income areas. Why in the hell are you fighting each other? You’re on the same side (in terms of economics)! I’ve had near fights in my classroom because someone “claimed” a particular hood. If you’re so proud of your hood, clean it up, improve it with the energy that you’re wasting on fighting! Or use this energy to get an education, and use this education to become politically and economically active so that you can improve the neighborhood forever.  They refuse to understand that if they don’t start studying they may stay in this negative state of the “hood” mentally as well as physically.

I’m starting to hear and see a few changes in my students. The main change is in class. They’re beginning to realize/accept that I’m not going to accept certain types of behavior. I’m trying to teach them that they have to change how they deal with people. Things like changing your tone, lowering your voice, and how to make your statement or ask your question. I’ve told them that constantly attacking people and raising your voice is not how you persuade people to listen to you. A student tells me, “Man, you want us to act white!” I tell him, “That’s the last thing I’m trying to have you do. My question is do you want to be black and strong or black and weak? To be heard, people have to want to listen to you.” Another young man says, “Ain’t nobody gonna listen to us.” I said, “It depends on how you present yourself. Are you just angry or are you angry and productive?” As I go through these life lesson sessions I always hear a voice in my head asking, don’t they learn these things from someone at home? What are their parents doing? Sometimes I feel as if I’m teaching two or three subjects at once (Spanish, English, and most importantly, Life Skills).

 Two days ago I was called a bald-headed mothafucka. After I  chuckled, I politely asked the young man to leave and he is now suspended. I met with this young man and his father in my principal’s office yesterday. The main thing that the father was concerned with was the conflicting stories. He simply wanted the truth. So, I told him of this and other incidents. When he asked why he hadn’t heard of these other incidents, I answered that I was trying to allow his son to correct his own behavior after having a few chats with him after that particular class had ended. The boy is sixteen-seventeen years old! Soon he’ll be on his own and forced to police himself if he wants to stay out of prison. After hearing me speak, he (the father) said that he believed what I was saying because he has had to put his son in check himself for the same type of behavior. Of course the child is only going to tell a half-truth because the other half lands him in trouble. But you can’t have change unless you accept the whole truth. And I’m proud of how he (the student) stood up and accepted the responsibility of his punishment once the complete truth was out in the open. He admitted that he needed to stop clowning around so much and come in for extra help. He also admitted that I had done nothing to cause him to call me what he did. He also added that they’ve never seen me get really mad, ever and admitted that nobody would blame me if I did. I believe that by remaining as calm as I can even when they are heated and loud, helps me create the calm, respectful environment that I want. Being the example does pay off. If you tell your child to read a book and they have never seen you sit and read. Why should they? I’ve had a young man ask me, “How can my dad tell me to stay off the streets and get good grades when he’s in jail for dealin’?” If you live the life that you want them to live, more than likely they’ll follow because the example, the blueprint has been placed in front of them.

The personalities of my students are beginning to be revealed and I think we are getting a feel for each other. I’ve had to stand my ground with a few of the more vocal students. It reminds of those nature shows when the dominant male or female has to establish his or her authority… Let’s watch and see if the young buck can oust the older leader. The body language of these two classes was nothing short of “the test”. Again these classes are trying to figure out how strict I am on discipline, a test on my “coolness” (a test on how hard of a teacher I will be). Again, the homework every night talk was not a popular platform. The problem is that the words discipline and work are only shown as positive, desirable traits within sports for many. So, many have been taught that if something is not immediately fun or entertaining, it’s not worth trying.  In my eighth bell, I’ve already put a young man out. He came in late and I asked,
“Could you have a seat, please?”
“Yeah, I’m ‘bout to.”(As he walks toward another student)
“Excuse me, could you sit down please?”---“I’m ‘bout to. Damn!”
“You know what, now I want you to leave.”
“I’m sittin’ down.”
“Get out.”
“Aw, you on that?”
“Yeah, I’m on that.”

Defiance is the shield. Volume is the hammer. A few fuck you statements are said under his breath as he leaves. Had I not kicked him out, all hopes of any kind of order/ control would have been lost. This young man had the reputation of being pretty tough throughout the school and it has worked for him due to fear. Fear from students because of the possible outcome of a fight. Fear from some teachers due to the possibility of a confrontation and then having to deal with his parents.  As the year progressed, after discussions and breaking down walls of defiance, this young man and I became close and he confided in me and became a champion of order and achievement in my class. I guess I passed his test. He was one of my “thugs” who keep their intelligence on the down low. He’s very bright and I found out through talking one day that he wanted to attend college. I looked up his grades one day and discovered that this hard, confrontational, tough young man was an A/B student! Unfortunately, in order to keep his reputation as a hard-ass intact, he felt that he had to get in trouble and be confrontational even when he knew that it was a bad idea. Another scheme that he had for keeping his “rep” was to ask for an extra book that he could keep at home, so that he could do the homework and then slyly give it to me folded up so that it would fit in my hand when he shook my hand as he would leave class. Once after I had to put him out of class for going off on me, I saw him in the lunchroom and I asked, “What is your problem? I didn’t do anything for you to blow up at me!” His answer, “Yeah, I know. I was going to come by and apologize. It’s just that I haven’t been in trouble in yo class in a while, know wha’i’m sayin’?” He was smart enough to make getting in trouble systematic! This kid was also a great artist and we talked about art a lot. In addition to style, we spoke about how to show and price your work. He would ask about the art shows that I’ve had and about how to determine price, or how to get out of a dry spell. When the art classes were having a student art sale I bought one of his paintings. But I made him work for the sale. When he received a request for a visit from Miami University (Ohio), he told me I was one of the first people to see the letter. I can’t describe how good I felt for him.

We cannot allow teenage inner-city youth to continue to hide intelligence as if were a disease! Some truly believe that getting an education is like a life-threatening sickness that will attack their reputation as if it were destroying their immune system. As I stated before, to be accused of “acting white” is in their cultural sense is like saying that you have cancer.
The 1 out of 4 good students must be given as much time, if not more as the 3 out of 4 bad students in the classroom as well as in the media so that those kids who are on the fence about which side to follow will feel more encouraged to do the positive and be good students. If the good isn’t highlighted, how are we to spread the feeling that good is desirable? And that good and productive is expected. Parents, it begins with you and then the folks on your street, followed by the community to praise and recognize not just the athletes but the scholars also.  This is where the village must step in and “raise a child.” I can still hear the older folks from my street telling me, “You got a good head on your shoulders, boy. Stay out of trouble and use it.” You hear comedians joke about how getting out of jail is more prestigious than graduating from college. I’m telling you it happens. After graduation from college I saw a guy from my neighborhood and invited him to a party that was being held for me. This guy looked at me and said, “But so-and so is getting out of the joint that same weekend.”  And I’m not saying that getting out of jail shouldn’t be celebrated, it was more the brushing off the accomplishment of an education as trivial that struck me as odd. It’s sorta like the student I had who would proudly show off his house arrest anklet by rolling up the one pants leg but he couldn’t read past a fourth grade level. He wouldn’t allow an education to define his blackness but rather, incarceration.

 Most young Black men in the United States don’t graduate from high school. Only 35% of Black male students graduated from high school in Chicago and only 26% in New York City, according to a 2006 report by The Schott Foundation for Public Education. Only a few Black boys who finish high school actually attend college, and of those few Black boys who enter college, nationally, only 22% of them finish college.- America Has Lost a Generation of Black Boys, March, 2006- Phillip Jackson of the Black Star Project

Another upsetting thing about my students is how some of them already have a hustle of some sort in place. Weather it is on the streets or beating the system, these kids know how to do it. “I don’t need school to hustle, Mr. Fletcher.” I respond with, “Well, if you use your education to the fullest in a number of imaginative ways it can seem like a hustle, without the fear of being caught doing something illegal.” The normal response I get is “That takes too long.” Or I’ll hear “Ain’t nobody down on that, man.” Throughout the day I’ve heard students talking about who got busted during the raid. I’m thinking to myself…what raid? So, I ask and they explain how security guards will enter a class and tell everyone to keep their hands visible while they search for whatever. They know that I’m shocked when I ask, “How does this make you feel?” They didn’t answer but looked at me crazy and asked, “Didn’t you have to do this when you were here?” I was thinking, hell no! I try to explain that this isn’t supposed to be something that you treat as routine. Many of them see this as “just the way it is” and then I hear, “We black. You know how it is.” By this time I’m screaming, “This isn’t happening solely because of the color of your skin! You all can change this! You can change the actions that make this necessary. Why are you allowing this to be part of the school’s reputation? Why are you accepting this as the norm?” I get hit with all of the bravado pride about how they’re “keepin’ this school live” and yes, I also hear, “keeping it real”. They refuse to believe that what they’re doing is killing this school and themselves for the future.

One afternoon while sitting with students who didn’t buy a ticket for a pep rally, a young man said he’s trying to get an education so that he can get out of his neighborhood. He’s one of the shyest students that I have. This is really the first time I’ve ever heard him speak at length. You look into his face and you see a man. You don’t see a kid who is trying to have fun. You see a man trying to survive. Drugs (dealers and addicts), violence and poverty are part of his daily obstacle course. He told me that he took the entrance exam for an area all male high school but decided not to go because relatives and friends from the neighborhood told him that if he attended he would probably turn into a “fag”. What made me sick was that his relatives didn’t try to encourage him but wanted to keep him down due to the fear that he may do something with his life. How can you not want a family member or friend to try to take advantage of opportunities in life? He ended by saying, “Ain’t that many black people at that school anyway, Mr. Fletcher. So this is probably where I belong.” Where I belong? What in the hell is that? I tell him, “You belong wherever you want to be!” (Self-imposed Jim Crow…victimology finalizing mental slavery.) Education is the way to break down these feelings of inadequacy. It’s what can give you a strong foundation of who you are. Then with that sense of self comes a sense of purpose. This young man was beaten down before he had a chance to stand up.

Another student I spoke with is also the student who I gave a ride home three days ago. He had missed the bus and needed to be home on time to get a ride to work. During the ride we talked about school…how he liked it, blah, blah, blah etc. Then he started asking me questions about where I grew up (not far from where he lives), what it was like for me in school.
He said he was asking because –“it seems like you were the kid who got good grades when he was here.”
I told him that I did but I also got a lot of hassle for it (teasing and a few near fights). Unfortunately, he’s going through the same taunts of “white boy”, “Oreo”, “Why you trying to be white and go to college?” He’s wondering if it’s worth it.
He says,” I’m getting tired of it.”
 I convince him that I as well as his family is counting on him to deal with it,
“You say your mom and grandmother tell you to just ignore it. They’re right. Don’t give up, please. I know it’s hard but it’s worth it”
He agrees, “Yeah, it’s hard…but I also don’t want to get caught up and go to jail like my dad.” He can’t understand why so many kids at this school don’t try. “How do they not want to get good grades and go to college? Or at least get a diploma?” This young man is very bright and would succeed in any school in the city. He has the confidence to succeed, comes to class prepared, works hard, he’s polite and is active in class. He stops by my class often to talk or simply to say what’s up. During the conversation with the other students in class his questions were directed towards me—
“Mr. Fletcher, how do you teach here?”
 I ask, “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you speak a couple of languages, you’ve been overseas and you’re an artist. You could be working anywhere. But you decide to teach in a school where most of the kids don’t care. Why?”
I told them all, “I ask myself that sometimes too. But then I think, without people like me being here how could we show students like you that what you’re trying to accomplish is worth doing?” He then directed questions towards his classmates
“Why don’t you guys study, man?
One student answers, “Hey man, just because you smart and know this stuff don’t mean…” ---“Doesn’t mean”, I say. He looks at me and says, “What? Whatever…that everybody understands!”
The young man answers, “It’s not that I’m smart. I just study. The work at this school ain’t…”—“Isn’t, I say. ”—“Oh yeah, isn’t hard.”
So how does one make the decision to improve? Why does one student allow himself to be corrected while the other becomes defensive? One has been taught how to take criticism and has been or is corrected at home and the other either hasn’t or isn’t. One has come to school with the expectation and willingness to learn and the other hasn’t. One student wants to be influenced while the other could care less.


Last week wasn’t too bad as far as homework and quizzes were concerned. I was actually a little surprised with the scores of quite a few students. I’m still preaching that education equals freedom. That it’s your education that gives you a sense or enhances your sense of being. I’m constantly telling my students that they can’t allow profanity and violence to define who they are. Find something constructive, and worthy of positive reinforcement. Allow an education to enhance your reputation and give you options on how to think your way out of any situation. Fighting is only one option. An education opens doors of opportunity. When I ask for a number of people that they know who have physically fought their way out of the projects, I always get zero. However, that all know of someone who was able to get a better job due to their education. But they continue to say that they think these people are soft and lame. I ask them, “What’s so soft about knowing that you’re going to be ridiculed for being positive, respectful and or intelligent and still doing it?” This is when I also get hit with moans about why I have to be so deep all of the time. And what in the hell is so deep about feeling proud and confident about who and what I’ve worked hard to become?


While the quality of education that I’m able to offer (due to my limited resources) is an angering and challenging thing day in and day out, I feel that my student’s outlook on education is the most perplexing thing to me. I believe that I could have state of the art facilities and materials and it wouldn’t make difference in achievement due to the low effort levels of many of my students. But I do have students, like the young man from my eighth bell class that I kicked out who have tough reputations but do the work, study and their grades show it. As I said before, these are also the students who may wait for everyone to leave before giving me their homework. Or they’ll walk past my desk and slyly place it on my desk without anyone noticing. Or sometimes, as they come to slap my hand and say good-bye they whisper in my ear, “My homework is on the desk.” I’ve also been told that it may look as though they are just drawing on paper but that they are taking notes in the margin of their notebook paper. We have a fear of recognition. Well, recognition of doing anything positive in addition with the fear to succeed, that runs rampant through this school. No one wants to be called “lame, white boy/white girl, punk or goody-goody”. These are not the labels to have when one is trying to prove him/herself as tough in their neighborhood. What some refuse to believe is that without an education, they will not have the opportunity to choose to stay or to leave a bad neighborhood. And many of us who grew up in low income communities have heard too many, could’ve, should’ve, would’ve and “ back in the day, I used to be the man around here” stories to want to hear any more. Get strength to do and be now. What always confuses me is the comment from some of the guys I knew/know from back in the day… “Fletch, I wish I was as brave as you were…” Bravery had nothing to do with it!  I was simply too scared to get into trouble.  Jail Is Cool was not my motto. I also didn’t want to disappoint my mother, siblings or friends. More importantly, I didn’t want to disappoint myself. Why dream if you’re not willing to work to make dreams reality? I made education my reputation and by doing so, avoided many of the pitfalls that await those who may not.