hey momma. i know you act a fool...

I finished the training for my volunteer coordinator position, and I have been at the actual organization, just for youth, inc. for about 2 weeks now. if you want to know what I do, just ask. as part of my job, I do direct service at local high schools in baltimore. mentoring, tutoring, the whole nine yards. this past friday I was at the ACCE academy in baltimore. a high school that if the kid graduate, they get a full ride to johns hopinks university. yup world famous jhu. you can write your ticket if you graduate and do reasonably well. so one of the girls I just started to mentoring came in the office because she was about to fight. the school has a program called the positive attitude center, which is an alternative to suspension. okay so this 14 year old girl comes in with a heavy attitude, swaying head, hands on hips. all of it. so i attempt to tell her not to fight, why not to fight, how she cannot be an entrenpenur or go to law school with a felony on your record, thats not how adults solve disputes etc. this little girl looked dead at me and said "I don't care what you say, my momma told me to get down for mine" your momma? i was in disbelief. but the principle corroborated the story. so i began to think. before, it was a safe assumption that children were being taught right from wrong at home, on how to behave as a human, and some where on the bus ride from home to school, through walking through the neiborhood, friends, music, you pick the poison, picked up deviant behavior. you could even say that they picked up some of it in the home, through indirect observation. but now, these kids are being taught, taught at home this deviant behavior. it's like "okay, this is how you go to the bathroom, make your lunch, ride on all punk ass kids in your class, and roll blunts in the bathroom. the parents are failing horribly. school, as my cousin brought to my attention, is only meant to reinforce what was learned at home. school is not meant to teach children how to behave, conflict resolution etc. but it is not happening at home anymore. momma had baby at 14, daddy's doing a bid, and BET and the devil's servant 50 cent raises baby. i know the stress bears heavy on momma, she has to work to make sure the family eats. but what does it matter if the child is on the fast track to the state pen? we have to step up, mentor, become a big brother or big sister to help lighten the load. not the children type? donate money, hand out snacks at after-school programs. we have to fill in the blanks that we assume are being filled in at home. if you need idea on how to get involved, just let me know. we can make this better. we have to.