Musings of a Frustrated Substitute

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.

-James Baldwin


I've often wondered exactly what determines a man's age. Is it the actual physical years that his heart has beaten? Is it dictated by life's experiences? Can age possibly be determined by the moments in which he feels a widening sense of disconnection from youth? The answer to all three appears to be a resounding yes.

I'm writing this from a high school classroom full of students of various ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and temperaments. Their ramblings, musings, and childish activities all run together into an caucophony of absolutely useless drivel. It forces the question, "What is really wrong with our children?"

There is an obvious difference between the zeal and exuberance of the young and the pointless activities that our youth use to occupy their time. I have often blamed the media, society, and our educational system for failing our children on numerous occasions. While these institutions cannot be rendered blameless, I am finding more and more that our children don't want to do better. They have no desire to make any more of themselves than what their minimal effort and God's good graces will get them.

I know at 13, 14, 15, and 16, much of your life is wrapped up in self-image , fashion, and finding an identity. Much of this identity is shaped by the peer group that you find yourself within. What can one do though when that identity has proven to ultimately be destructive to not only themselves, but those around them? The answer, more often than not, is strict discipline. Detention, Suspensions, and (in some places) Corporal Punishment are handed out liberally as a "one size fits all" solution to even the simplest of behavioral problems. The only problem is that one cannot be disciplined within a school when they aren't disciplined properly at home and haven't been raised in a home where discipline is the norm. Therefore the school acting under the guise of en loco parentis attempt to properly handle a variety of children within certain parameters of not only good educational practice but also an even-handed, universal fairness so that all are treated equally.

Our children are failing in school and society as a result...

Partially of their own volition...

Partially due to a plethora of outside factors...

Is there a solution, or have we gotten too deep into this quagmire?

The optimist in me wants to say, "Hell yeah there's a solution!"

The realist in me recognizes that it would take two acts of God, an act of the United Nations, a conversion of George Bush to Hinduism, and the resurrection of Nipsey Russell to make the solution actually come to pass.

It would take a renewed interest in parenting, a COMPLETE overhaul of the entire U.S. Department of Education, we'd have to scrap No Child Left Behind, B.E.T. would have to be shut down, Hip-Hop would have to undergo a MAJOR transformation, the Dope Game would have to lose its luster, instutional racism would have to completely disappear, community involvement would have to become a priority for blacks, the black nuclear family would have to magestically reappear in the realm of American society, and last but not least our children would have to begin to give a damn...

Think its possible?