Shamrock7r
Member
It's also an extremely low performing school in it's district, according to the video. I think that fact, and also the location, probably dictates how he approaches his speech.
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Motivational speaker goes off after being disrespected by high school kids
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It's also an extremely low performing school in it's district, according to the video. I think that fact, and also the location, probably dictates how he approaches his speech.
MisterShine
Member
According to some of the statistics we just got at my school (Cleveland) we have about 80% of the students reading at least 5 years below grade level. In my case, meaning most kids are at 5th grade or below.
I've only been teaching a few years now, but generally speaking... its true. I have roughly equal latino and black students, with some white mixed in. Of the students that are consistently rude and disruptive to the class, they are almost always black. Now, many of my best students are also black, but the kids I have to spend 90% of my energy on wrangling to not fuck up the day for everyone tend to be African American. There are many reasons for that (most of which have been touched on already), but there it is. His personal experience being similar to this is not surprising at all.
Dreams-Visions
Member
he's referring to what is essentially the beginning as he charged up and went on his long diatribe.
Ahh, okay. Just came off as real to me. Loved the survivors line.
Dreams-Visions
Member
yea the video in the OP is set to start in the middle of the speech. if you rewind back you see how it started vs how it finished.
paperboywriter
Member
that video is weird, they cut out the students making the noise/ talking or whatever
Look right above your post.
quickwhips
Member
So why were these black kids talking while he was but other schools didn't? I don't get what is different could be? Is this a poorer area is it economics?
Japanmanx3
Member
I stand by those words. My HS went waaaay down after I graduated smh. That was just '09.
No, it wasn't.
A bit of insight for those arguing about his choice of words....I've never lived in a particularly "bad" neighborhood, but i've shared schools with the type of kids who would openly disrespect authorities. Fighting bus drivers, assaulting and openly disrespecting teachers, and generally just not giving a shit. In the worst cases, there were like 3 types of teachers/authorities who would get respect: the ones who would actually build rapport with them (most commonly younger teachers, or ones from similar backgrounds), the ones who asserted themselves, and the ones who, after a certain point would just openly tell the kids about themselves in a way that would actually cause them to look inward...and there's something more subtle to that than simply insulting them, because they're used to that already. In my memory, the "fed up" moments that stick out to me are all similar to this video in some way -- the teacher tries to get something done, the students dont give a shit, and eventually the teacher emotionally just gets fed up, drops their inhibitions and tells them how shitty they are acting, how hard it is to work for them, and essentially how tired they are of fighting a "losing battle".
Kids from bad upbringings don't always respond positively to quiet, docile, or well-intended adults, they aren't brought up giving out mutual respect, and their community doesn't scold them for being illiterate or failing exams because that's what's expected of them. But despite how they act out, nobody wants to fail. None of them are proud of being below the curve. If you're getting hung up on the fact he made it into a "race issue", then you're missing the point. It IS a race issue -- whether anyone in the room wants it to be or not. Whether they're doing the right thing or acting a fool. They are not oblivious to the way the world views them. When he points out that other races are doing it better, it makes the kids look inward...ALL of them, even the well-mannered ones. It puts everyone on the same page, on the same level, and it criticizes them as a unit. They all feel bad as a unit...and thus they all want to improve as a unit.
Its really hard to explain the flavor right, but if you've ever been in one of those classrooms where a teacher genuinely feels like giving up and stops caring, you'd understand. It can make even the most dreadful students feel guilty as fuck.
I don't have a problem with what he said either.
A lot of black kids need a strong male figure to look up to. This guy is trying to fill that void.
Good stuff.
BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO
Junior Member
*yawn* speeches are cool and all but tbh a lot of people my age don't respect the generation before us and for good reason. Talking down on us almost never works although if it helped at least one person, I guess it's okay. Judging from the information in the OP, I can already tell he's one of those people who victim blame, who blame inner city kids of being products if their environments. You know we are raised in dysfunction, don't be surprised when we act like this. Why would he bring up White (Jewish) schools? Why is someone who is supposed to be lecturing black youth so clueless on why inner city schools are bad?
I'm willing to bet that the schools that those children attended, the neighborhoods they live in, the people their parents work for, the people responsible for the environment they live in and the environment that he lived in are controlled by the same people who oppress them (even if the environments that they live in are predominantly Black). These kids are the products of underfunded education, lack of economic opportunities, (and as a result) poverty, guns, the destruction of important black leaders and groups, and a multi billion dollar drug trade. Who's responsible for all this? He shouldn't be talking down to these kids if he isn't putting money in their pocket, if he isn't providing economic and education opportunities to them. He should show these kids why their life's are fucked, who did it and how to fix it. The lecturing shit isn't going to do much. Victim blaming and other nonsensical fallacies isn't going to do shit.
I'm willing to bet that the schools that those children attended, the neighborhoods they live in, the people their parents work for, the people responsible for the environment they live in and the environment that he lived in are controlled by the same people who oppress them (even if the environments that they live in are predominantly Black). These kids are the products of underfunded education, lack of economic opportunities, (and as a result) poverty, guns, the destruction of important black leaders and groups, and a multi billion dollar drug trade. Who's responsible for all this? He shouldn't be talking down to these kids if he isn't putting money in their pocket, if he isn't providing economic and education opportunities to them. He should show these kids why their life's are fucked, who did it and how to fix it. The lecturing shit isn't going to do much. Victim blaming and other nonsensical fallacies isn't going to do shit.
BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO
Junior Member
Being raised in dysfunction is pretty good excuse for ignorance IMO.
AcademicSaucer
Member
That man is something special, even when he got angry he tried to teach something instead of going off.
paperboywriter
Member
well actually i watched the video from the beginning
This speaker reminded me of a movie called Detachment with Adrian Brody in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ALfK8aU9x8
It's the only clip I could find and its cut up but it gets the point across. The kid doesn't want to do anything and Brody doesn't give him the reaction he expected. He leveled with him and said either sit down and do your work because I care about you, if you don't there's the door I won't stop you. The kid asks for a pencil and sits down. And as another poster mentioned, just talking TO the kids rather than DOWN to them makes a world of difference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ALfK8aU9x8
It's the only clip I could find and its cut up but it gets the point across. The kid doesn't want to do anything and Brody doesn't give him the reaction he expected. He leveled with him and said either sit down and do your work because I care about you, if you don't there's the door I won't stop you. The kid asks for a pencil and sits down. And as another poster mentioned, just talking TO the kids rather than DOWN to them makes a world of difference.
markofhavoc
Member
Damn son, probably exactly what they needed to hear. I guarantee it was effective with a few
Borboleta Amarela
Member
Powerful stuff.
This really leaves me sad because we don't have more people doing shit like this. In my case, the administration of my middle school decided to bundle together in one class all the "bad students" (minorities) so we basically had a playground for failure set up for us.
Everyday, for 3 years, classes would just be people fighting, disrespecting every adult (some truly deserved it though) and just pure disinterest (students and teachers alike) in learning/teaching. Needless to say, none of my classmates went to high school. Some eventually spiraled into a life of crime...
Only positive thing in all of that was the bonds forged between the students. Everyone had everyone's back. We were a solid group.
It's terrible that to this day, people in charge still do nothing about these problems. Kids are our future and we're all just pawning it for whatever reason...
This really leaves me sad because we don't have more people doing shit like this. In my case, the administration of my middle school decided to bundle together in one class all the "bad students" (minorities) so we basically had a playground for failure set up for us.
Everyday, for 3 years, classes would just be people fighting, disrespecting every adult (some truly deserved it though) and just pure disinterest (students and teachers alike) in learning/teaching. Needless to say, none of my classmates went to high school. Some eventually spiraled into a life of crime...
Only positive thing in all of that was the bonds forged between the students. Everyone had everyone's back. We were a solid group.
It's terrible that to this day, people in charge still do nothing about these problems. Kids are our future and we're all just pawning it for whatever reason...
Abstrusity
Member
The problems are multifold.
A lack of opportunity is an economic problem.
This lack of opportunity means that it's more likely they'll get into drugs -- the risk is high, but the reward is higher than anything they can expect (and we see this everywhere, see next point)
The risk is high, reward is higher, but cops routinely patrol AA areas more than predominantly white areas. RIGHT NOW, it's not because AA commit more drug crimes than whites -- it's because statistics say that. The problem started 50 years ago, with actual racists, and continues today, because those actual Klansmen police officers decided to patrol AA areas more than anywhere else. Yeah, it's racial, but that's because "more crime" comes from predominantly black areas (because there are more patrols there). This is why it's called institutionalized racism -- the entire thing is bunk.
Now, because drugs and burglaries are pretty much the only way to get by in some areas, plenty of black men are arrested, which them leaves us with single mothers raising kids -- single mothers who obviously need to work, but probably won't be able to afford daycare at the high price. Simply put, parent(!) doesn't have TIME to raise her kid.
...Which just feeds back into the lack of opportunity, which fuels the disproportionate arrests for drugs and burglary. The same, I need to add, is true of predominantly white neighborhoods, but on the poorer side of the spectrum. It's a vicious cycle that hits blacks harder because of racism, but hits ALL of the poor/working class pretty hard.
There are some ways we can fix this: One of them is economics. Better fiscal policies would certainly help. No demand = no businesses = no jobs = no opportunities. Anything that breaks the cycle would do, but this one is the easiest one to subvert that cycle, especially considering it comes with the implicit fact that yes, it will help /everyone/, so it's a little harder to be oppose to it on racial/discriminatory grounds.
The second is police reform, specifically, balancing police officers out and throwing out statistics. Police forces measure crime and put more resources in higher crime areas. The problem is that this is historical, and only feeds into "there's higher crime here!" when in reality, there's more crimes elsewhere, it's just not patrolled as much. Fixing that would ALSO subvert the system. The problem is that a LOT of people are loathe to blame the police for it, and again, they'll just pull up statistics that are wrought be disproportionate enforcement.
A two-pronged approach would be best, because one would lead to fewer crimes in general, and the other would lead to fewer losses of opportunities that would balance out the lower crimes (and render the economic path unable to work).
Felons check a box to get a job, why hire a felon when you have a non-felon looking for one? This too drives recidivism rates, and entire generations are lost when they cant' get raised correctly because they effectively don't have parents.
No generation has respected the generation before them. You aren't special. You guys don't have some insight into how the world works that the generations before you don't. Every teenager ever has felt like they know what's up--and that disrespecting someone that's trying to bring perspective to you is the only way to respond to a scathing criticism.
Sometimes you need a hard, metaphorical slap across the face to bring your ass outta the gutter. Nobody is gonna do that for you. No amount of money is going to fix someone not giving a damn. Does money make it easier to not give a damn? Yeah, absolutely. But you need to care about yourself in the first place.
Some problems are within your power to control, and being constantly told that it's "someone elses" problem to solve is absolutely no way to go about enacting change. It's not these kids' fault that they're raised in ignorance, but it's their fault if they willfully remain as such.
And before we get into it, no. I'm not white.
MetalGearZed
Member
Approved 100%. He better not get too much flak from this, cause he's right.
tkscz
Member
How is it related to slavery when it was something done in multiple cultures world wide?
StickSoldier
Member
Nothing wrong with that lol. I actually think that people have to hear shit like that sometimes. People need to know the truth, but especially from a person that has the emotional power to deliver the speech. This guy was good.
As someone who graduated from one of these "low performance schools", the man said nothing wrong.
It's considered funny to be disrespectful, and doing your actual work is consistently looked down upon by your "peers"
You know what isn't though? Sports. Be ignorant all you want, if you can throw a football, make a tackle, or shoot a hoop, your good to go. Fucking varsity football players with 5th grade reading levels.
Think it isn't true?
My school district was caught in the act of giving state test answers to student athletes.
The moderator of the test was the coach.
Spent millions of dollars in a district, where the textbooks were referring to Bill Clinton as the standing president, to go build a new football field.
And people calling him out for that Jewish, white, and Latino comment?
You sound like people that have never been part of any of this.
ITS TRUE.
Even if try do call you all types of despicable shit, they at least do it behind your back. They don't mindlessly interrupt the education process at every opportunity possible, messing with students who come from just as shitty backgrounds as they actually try and get out of the struggle with their own two hands.
And what's funny is, I have people sharing this video all over my facebook feed calling this guy out for his words.
But they conveniently fail to mention the time he came to our school and the same shit happened.
It's considered funny to be disrespectful, and doing your actual work is consistently looked down upon by your "peers"
You know what isn't though? Sports. Be ignorant all you want, if you can throw a football, make a tackle, or shoot a hoop, your good to go. Fucking varsity football players with 5th grade reading levels.
Think it isn't true?
My school district was caught in the act of giving state test answers to student athletes.
The moderator of the test was the coach.
Spent millions of dollars in a district, where the textbooks were referring to Bill Clinton as the standing president, to go build a new football field.
And people calling him out for that Jewish, white, and Latino comment?
You sound like people that have never been part of any of this.
ITS TRUE.
Even if try do call you all types of despicable shit, they at least do it behind your back. They don't mindlessly interrupt the education process at every opportunity possible, messing with students who come from just as shitty backgrounds as they actually try and get out of the struggle with their own two hands.
And what's funny is, I have people sharing this video all over my facebook feed calling this guy out for his words.
But they conveniently fail to mention the time he came to our school and the same shit happened.
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