It was 12th-grade math class. As the teacher droned, I had my textbook open - to the latest copy of Mad magazine. So engrossed was I in the spoof rag tucked inside my textbook that I didn't notice that the teacher had materialized beside me.
We stared at each other for several seconds before she turned and walked away. She said nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Believe it or not, I thought that meant she liked me. It took years for me to realize that her indifference meant that she cared not one whit whether I learned anything in her class. The information was being taught and was available if I'd been amenable to learning it, but she was making no special effort to ensure that I did.
Was it her responsibility? Or was it mine?
What has me thinking about Mad magazine, high school math and indifferent teachers was the e-mail message sent last week by Daniel Coleman, president of the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association, to members of that group. Coleman committed what, to many, amounted to blasphemy when he stated that the busing-for-socioeconomic-diversity policy, which so many are fighting so hard to restore, has not been a panacea to the education woes afflicting many poor and minority children.
"They are not only failing, but the scores are the lowest of all scores," he wrote. "We have to ask ourselves, Where is the benefit of an assignment policy based on economic diversity when the end result produces the worse scores in the system?" EGADS!
Calla Wright of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children accused Coleman of being "out of touch" and, worse, of wishing "to condemn our most vulnerable children to a second-class education."
Fiddlesticks, Coleman said. "I've known Calla since she was a little girl," he said. "We grew up on the same street, and I'm proud that she's willing to be a leader and speak out. ... I'm disappointed that she's not willing to look at the data" concerning busing and performance.
Nobody can think that "neighborhood schools" and the inherent inequality that derives from them are the solution, but as I proved lo those many years ago, you can sit a kid in a new building next to rich kids of any color - and he won't learn a thing unless he wants to and gets encouragement from home.
You know who said he agrees with that last point? The Rev. William Barber, president of the state's NAACP chapter, that's who. Of course, when the Rev. Barber is mostly shown on TV going to jail and commandeering a board member's seat, it's hard for many to appreciate nuance in his argument.
Barber spoke of the need for parental involvement, smaller class sizes and better teachers. "We've never argued that diversity is a cure-all," he said, "but there is no debating that anti-diversity is the same as anti-excellence in education."
You know what else can't be debated? Whether it's in a school across town or across the street, kids need teachers who won't turn away when they catch them reading Mad magazine in math class. And parents who'll ensure that they don't.
