I found an article in the New York Times that tells a frustrating tale of potential, hard work, and even compliance with State “standards” gone to waste. This student was more than successful. He was a shining star in his academic achievements. He no doubt, would have gone on to do extremely well in college. Unfortunately, he lived in a rough part of town, and his success will never be fully realized.
During the spring of his sophomore year in high school here, Jeffrey Johnson took the standardized tests that Florida requires for promotion and graduation. He scored in the 93rd percentile in reading and the 95th in math. That same semester, he earned straight A’s.
Two years later, in May 2006, Jeffrey was about to graduate summa cum laude, having received a full college scholarship. Days before commencement, at the age of 17, he was shot to death at a party during an argument about his car. His graduation mortarboard was found near his body.
For Paul Moore, who had taught Jeffrey in an advanced social studies class at Miami Carol City Senior High School, a terrible question began to emerge. It all turned on the concept on accountability. Jeffrey had proved accountable to the state by passing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. But what about the accountability the state had to keep Jeffrey alive?
Jeffrey was the third Carol City student shot to death during the 2005-6 academic year. By the first semester of this year, two more had been killed in gun violence. It was then that Mr. Moore decided to do something more than deliver eulogies, visit weeping parents and initiate class discussions about all the senseless death.
He drafted a petition, expressing his righteous anger. (“Anger” indeed was the word, for it derives from the Norse “angr,” which means grief at the wrongness in the world.) The petition appealed to the newly elected governor, Charlie Crist, to “make Florida’s schools and the communities around them ‘measurably’ safer” and it concluded, “You are accountable to us for it!”
In the past month, several thousand people have signed the petition. It is not being forwarded, in the modern way, on the Internet. Instead, volunteers take paper versions into classes, churches, offices; a copy even turned up among some teachers in Chicago. Mr. Moore’s words have reached to the heart of something.
“I see these kids as the canary in the coal mine,” said Mr. Moore, 53. “They’re the first to go. But ultimately all our lives are in danger. I know there are personal failures here, but you have to give children a chance to live long enough to make moral choices. The Preamble of the Constitution says the government must guarantee the general welfare. They’ve failed. They’ve failed. These children shouldn’t be dying.”
This is an example of a real life Linda Christiansen moment. It is an example of the only power a teacher and his or her students can poses in such a powerless situation. Reading this made me think about whether or not I would be ready to deal with these kinds of situations, and whether or not I would have the strength to help my students address them as well as they are grieving, devastated, and frustrated beyond belief. I am glad to see that Mr. Moore took action to speak and write for change, but I wonder if a teacher’s voice, unversed in legal ways, will make a difference. I hope it will. I am just still seeing the complicated web of problems that leads to an environment like this. There are so many sacrifices that must be made, so many people who must change their minds. I think in addition to this kind of activism, each one of us needs to do our part to think differently, motivate others to think differently, and put money where our mouth is as often as we have the chance.
Dealing with these issues requires determination and compassion. Reading these articles is helping me understand the kind of determination I will need, and the extent to which I will have to lead by example.
Trying to Disarm the Dangerous World That Students Live In
By Samuel G. Freedman
Published: March 28, 2007
New York Times
Complete Article
