Letters that will never be sent. Part Two
Dear Senator Obama:
Yesterday’s letter described a concern I have, as well as my personal reasoning for that concern. Today, I will follow up with my brother’s story, and why I still demand an answer to the injustices plaguing the American education system.
My younger brother’s Story.
Thank goddess, my brother was fortunate enough to have faith in himself and did not give up when the teachers and principals had given up in him. My mother called me in tears my junior year in college to tell me that my little brother walked out of school because the same principal that gave me my unwarranted ultimatum had told my brother to drop out of school, because the principal felt that he was wasting the teachers’ time. My brother is a very skilled musician. This confrontation came about because my brother wanted to take a third music class (guitar) through a distance program for his extra hour in school, instead of taking an unneeded study hall or weight training class during his senior year of high school. Since my brother chose to take a music class, instead of the only offered classes for that time, the principal (suddenly and without reason) accused my brother of being in a gang, because his band members happened to look different than the other students—he was accusing my brother of this and telling him that the school would not condone his guitar class, when there were legitimate options available at the school that did not advocate dangerous gang activity, as the music class was clearly the result of my brother’s violent nature (I’d like to point out my brother could not swat at a fly). Now, my brother, thankfully was smart enough to call the principal out on his logical fallacy, and to tried to defend why a third music class would benefit his personalized education. The principal countered my brother’s argument by reminding him of the grades in his other classes, which were not failing, but the gap between music and his other classes was considerable. The end of their argument was punctuated with the principal’s advice to just drop out. Again, my mother went to the school board, and this time, there were at least tiny results, rather than a deaf ear. My bother’s schedule was shifted around to the point where he lost other desired classes in favor of mostly second choices that filled his schedule without any open spaces—which my brother accepted just to avoid fighting the greater system, when he realized he could not win. It enraged me to know that my brother could have had all first choice classes, including a third music class, but instead ended up taking mostly second choice classes, just to keep him from dropping out—which was what my brother seriously considered—but instead decided to stay and torment the school, out of a lack of respect for his teachers (which, frankly, they didn’t deserve his respect.)
Thanks again for reading, tomorrow I will write about my brother’s best friend’s story.
Jenai
