Day Thirty-Six

For those of you just tuning in, "This Guy is Falling" follows the educational exploits of Mr. Birds-Eye, a high school teacher in his third year of teaching, traditionally the make or break year in the profession. Fearing that he has finally reached his wits end, Birds-Eye decides to write a blog in hopes that he can reboot his year by focusing on the positives of the profession.

And I'm happy to report that it's been working.


Had a real interesting day today.


Continued discussing race relations with my juniors, focusing on the question: "Is it okay for a person to put down their own race?"


I got a variety of answers. 


Some said it was okay because it shows you don't take yourself too seriously. Others said it was acceptable because it's your race and you should be able to say whatever you want. And still others thought it wasn't okay because not only are you disrespecting yourself, but you're also disrespecting the people who came before you.


Once everyone said their piece, I asked them if they made fun of their race to people from the same race, or people from a different race? Most of them said they made fun of their race to their friends from different races.


Why?


After some thought almost everyone said, they made fun of themselves as a preemptive strategy so their friends couldn't make fun of them first.

Wow.


I then asked them why they felt the need to distance themselves from their race?


Almost everyone said to make themselves feel better so they could feel superior.

INT. CLASSROOM  - DAY


Teacher - How  can you feel superior if you have to demean yourself just to make friends?


SILENCE. A lot of them hadn't thought of that before.


END SCENE


We then moved along to the dreaded "N Word."


As I walk around my school, I frequently hear the N-word, but it's not coming from Black people.


So I called them on it.


INT. CLASSROOM - LATER


Teacher - Who used the N word in here?


Several Kids raise their hands.


Teacher - Why?


Student #1 - It's not racial. It's just like you see one of your boys and you say, "What's up nigga'?"


Student #2 - It comes from the music we listen to.


Teacher - Right. Hip-hop.


Student #3 - Yeah, the word just evolved. It's not racist anymore.


Teacher - That's a rather naive way of looking at it. Who gave you permission to decide that it's not racist?


They SHRUG their shoulders.


Student #1 - Well niggER, that's racist. But niggA' that's okay.


Teacher - And you think Black people are okay with it?


Student #2 - Some of my friends are Black and they're okay with it.


Teacher - So  just because you have a few Black friends who say it's okay you're going to hold a whole race to that?


They don't know what to say.


Teacher (to Student #2) - What race are you? What's your ethnicity?


Student #2 - Mexican.


Teacher - What's a slang term for a Mexican?


Student #2 - Beaner.


Teacher - So if you were walking down the hallway and a bunch of kids who weren't Mexican were saying, "What's up beaner" to each other. You'd be okay with that?


Student #2 - No, that's messed up.


Teacher - Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say beaner? I meant, beana'!


Student #2 laughs.


Teacher - Get the point?


He nods his head.


END SCENE


And that in a nutshell is why I still like teaching.


Signing off.


Birds-Eye