The actual number one killer of black males and black females is abortion. Fatherless homes is the major problem in black families and I love that there is more of an emphasis on black men to be educated and to stay home with their families. I am struggling as I watch this video. I could be silent, but I feel it necessary to voice my thoughts. I don't deny any of this information. It's true in most cases. I am both inspired and frustrated at the same time. I feel compelled to work harder, but also feel like a ton of bricks has just been added to the ton I was already carrying. You would think I have muscles like the Hulk now, but I feel weaker. How do we motivate the kid who comes from a broken home, struggles with all the "dys"es (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and dyspraxia, ADD/ADHD). I tutor him, but he just wants to talk and share his experiences on gaming and play with friends. He is in 9th grade, but is essentially functioning at a 4th grade level. He parents don't want to help, but his granny and his aunt do. He give the excuse of "I can't." I am trying to shift that to, at the very least, "I am going to try." I have him for an hour and a half once a week and tutor him for half an hour privately. He is a white kid. Even in AVID, kids have to do the work required, or they have to leave that class. I live in very racially diverse community where many of the minority kids have excelled. Then I have had other kids who just want to come in and disrupt class, come in late, and won't do the work. I have seen their AVID teacher work with them and challenge/encourage them, spend extra time with them. Cry over them. I am and those teachers are one person in their lives and we have about 10-15 of them in a week. I can wreck my family trying to help them, but if they aren't willing to change their mindset, then they leave the classroom a statistic - and I am left feeling guilty that I didn't do enough. Teachers begin each school year inspired, motivated, and optimistic, but by November, have switched to a "just get through" mentality sometimes with some classes. Compliance to national, state, district and individual school standards, then create order, plan, teach, motivate, inspire, discipline, etc. At some point, when do we place blame on the parent or the student. The student I mentioned above is a real student. I teach him at a small private school owned by his aunt who is a former social worker with a degree in counseling and social work. He was taken out of the public school by his grandmother because it wasn't working for him and he fell behind more and more. So he came to the private school. His grandmother worked with him one-on-one, his aunt did the same. I am one in a long line of teachers and tutors who have worked one-on-one with him. We have encouraged him and tried to find what makes him tick and how to find that one thing that will help. We have tried to gently iron out those wrinkles of his life, but he isn't compliant. I don't know what will happen to him. I am not giving up and saw a slight improvement this week. Last year, I saw three students being poured into by their AVID teachers, but they simply wouldn't comply (one Black, one Latino, and one White - 2 male, 1 female). Two of them had to leave the program. One stayed, but it was so tough trying to get through and love her through her stubbornness. I hope those teachers are commended for their efforts and not made to feel as though they failed - as though they are a statistic. My daughter and her husband are both teachers in the public school system. It's hard watching them with similar struggles. Don't forget to encourage the teachers and praise their efforts.
