Perspective

The school at which I teach follows the NativityMiguel model. I may have explained it already, but the long and short is that we keep middle school students in school for an extended day. At Central Catholic, that means until 5pm (6pm next year), though in other schools the extended day can go as late as 9pm. The long school days serves a dual purpose : to provide educational opportunities (guided study halls, teacher assistance, electives, etc.) and to keep kids off the streets. The after-school hours are the most dangerous for the demographic we serve.

Of course, if I got antsy waiting for 3:15 each afternoon, I should not be surprised when my students rebel against 5pm. Most of them have no idea why we stay so late, and, being myself, I want to explain, especially to the bright ones, who will listen when I explain.

However, the explanation poses a challenge. While most students have a heighten sense of their race, they have very little sense of their own disadvantage, socially and economically, in society, and I like that. I like that they feel empowered, motivated, capable. But how do you cast a vision of something that exists because they are disadvantaged, endangered, vulnerable?

Luckily, in my most recent attempt at an explanation (to 7th grader, whom I'll call So'Journy), I got a reaction to mentioning that some schools let out at 9pm. I then could play up the idea of safety as a reason for the extended day, without it directly applying to So'Journy. I spoke in terms of "kids at other schools" and "other kids in this school" coming from bad neighborhoods. Of course, So'Journy defended her own neighborhood :

"There aren't even gunshots that often. Only a few every now and then."

Well. What do you say to that? I didn't want to put down her neighborhood -- that is a sure way to alienate one of these children -- however, I did tell her that "I never heard gunshots in my neighborhood growing up."

"Not even at New Year's?" she asked, clarifying that people shoot off celebratory shots, the same way my neighbors light firecrackers. I confirmed that even New Year's Eve was gun-shot-less.

I don't want So'Journy to start to think poorly of her neighborhood, because it is her life and part of her. At the same time, part of the cycle of poverty comes from the fact that these children might see themselves in good jobs, but they don't visualize the simple things that other children take for granted : a quiet night when you do not hear people shooting at each other. If nothing else, I hope this thought sticks in the back of So'Journy's mind : that one day, she can raise her children in a neighborhood where they do not hear guns.