Dr. Charles Becknell SR. Lecture (frontal view)

We prevailed on a gentleman from Albuquerque to come down and speak to our secondary students, teachers, and we were so pleased with that presentation that we asked him to come back as soon as he could, and you'll notice we're prepared to tape him this time. So it is a pleasure to welcome back to our campus. He's been quite busy yesterday and today, various speaking engagements around campus, but it's an extreme pleasure to welcome back one of our favorite speakers of last year, an athlete from Hobbs New Mexico, a college student from Albuquerque, a teacher from a former teacher from Albuquerque, a secretary of the Criminal Justice Division for State of New Mexico, former. Now an employee, I'm not sure exactly what his title is with the gas company of New Mexico dealing an energy and boy, I was tempted to come up with another one there, Charles, but I'll just kind of

let that ride at this time, but we're especially pleased to have back on our campus, Dr. Charles back now. I think I'll put this around my neck myself. I'm a little reluctant to have somebody do it. For me, feel a little strange having a non-black person put a string around your neck. Before we get started, I don't know, it's a tough act to follow, you know. They told me I was going to come in here and speak to a couple of students and I walk in here and it was quite about 60 to 70 people and videotapes and the whole bit, I should have prepared a text or something, but before we get started, we don't need to put this on videotape, but before we get started, you know, I've been down to Eastern a couple of times, three

or four or five, I don't know how many. And I really get a good feeling when I come on this campus, partly due to people like Dr. Slinker. And then I have two very dear friends I'd like for you all to meet because their hospitality has just been tremendous every time I come here. Barbara, would you stand up, Barbara Thyson and her better half, Jerry. Less a half, I'm sorry Barbara. I should have done it in reverse, but they've been tremendous to me down here every time I come down. You know, of all the discussions that I have when I come to Eastern, really, I really enjoy this the most because you represent a group of people who will be going out into the teaching profession. And you're going out fresh, innocent, naive. Really, you don't know what you get into, but I think perhaps what I have to say, I hope you can appreciate and I hope that you'll be able to use some

of the things that I talk about in your classroom. Of all the things I've done in my life, teaching has been the most rewarding thing that I've really done because working with kids and really now, some of the kids I taught back in elementary school, they're up now and they're growing, they're out, you know, college and doing things on their own and you run into them from time to time and they'll stop you and they'll always tell you something that you said to them or you did for them or to them or whatever, to make them remember you and it's a good feeling. And you know, the rewards are not that great because you look at your first paycheck, you're going to say, wow, I wonder if it's worth it, but I tell you, it is worth it. I teach it is a great profession and I wish the decision makers that set the salaries for teachers would realize that because a lot of good teachers

are doing something else simply because they couldn't afford to stay in the teaching profession. But if you can hang in there for a while, it will work out for you and be a very rewarding experience for you. You know, I'm reminded of a story about this lady who was in the kitchen preparing breakfast and she kept calling upstairs. She says, Bill, it's time to go to school now. Come downstairs. No answer. Bill, get out of that bed. It's time to go to school. Come down right now. Nothing happens. You waited about 10 minutes more. Bill, for the last time, get out of that bed and get down here and have your breakfast. You're going to be late for school. So this voice calls down. Do I really have to go? I really don't want to go to school today. The students won't talk to me and the teachers

hate me. Bill, you must go to school. You're the principal of Poe Donk High School. You know, sometimes as teachers, you're going to feel that way. I don't want to go to school. These students hate me and the principals and all of this, but it's pretty good. And again, too, as teachers, you're going to have to learn how to use your ingenuity. You may not have all the tools and techniques that you might feel that you need to carry on your job. But a little ingenuity would go a long way. Again, I'm reminded of a story about this guy who walked into a liquor store with a brick in his hand. And he walked up to the guy behind the cash register and he said, this is a hold up. And the guy behind the cash register looked at him and said, what? This is a hold up. He said, you can't hold

up a liquor store with a brick. So the guy jumped over the counter and proceeded to pound him over the head about five times with this brick. And he said, hold, stop. Don't hit me anymore. Here's all my money. So the guy took it. Then he, the owner of the liquor store said, sir, would you wait a minute? Come here a minute. So the guy came back and he, the owner went into his pocket and pulled out $50. And say, look, would you take this $50 and the robber said, what is this $50 for? He said, buy yourself a gun. You've got to kill somebody with that damn brick. But sometimes, you know, you may need a brick to carry on your job as teachers. You know, I remember when I did my student teaching. I was frightened. I was frightened. I was fortunate enough to have a supervising teacher who understood that. And, but I'll tell you, I went into that classroom. The first day

I did, I was teaching history on the seventh grade level in junior high school. And I felt that I'd been adequately prepared. All the theory on education I'd taken and I did quite well in my classes. I figured if I just went by the book and just followed some of the rules and the principles that they taught me, that I would be able to do quite well as a teacher. But I was still frightened. I walked into the classroom. I had, I guess about 28, 30 students. But I had black kids. I had Hispanic kids. I had Anglo kids. And I had some Indian kids that they bust in from the reservation. So I had a multicultural classroom. And as I began to get into teaching these kids, I found out that I almost had

to start from scratch, okay? Because I couldn't go back to those books and they couldn't tell me how to deal with culturally different kids. That was something I had to figure out on my own. And as you go into your classrooms, whether it's here in New Mexico or if you go someplace else, you're going to have kids in your classes who are culturally different. And these kids will have different needs. They perhaps will have different aspirations. And you're going to have to find a way as teachers to reach those kids. Now, I know in a lot of cases that we may not be prepared to deal with these kids because our exposure to people who are culturally different may have been somewhat limited. Or we may have

been operating on a frame of reference that has not been totally accurate. That is to say that there may have been some stereotypes about other people that we just didn't know any different. And we proceed to go into our classrooms based on the knowledge that we have. We begin to teach kids from that basis. And I think we need to begin as teachers to expand our knowledge about kids who are culturally different. And begin to find ways to include them in the traditional American curriculum. You know, one of the, when I taught history in high school, students used to tell me, you know, history is my worst subject. I hate American history. You know, and how many students have you heard say that? I hate history. Why do they hate history? Because there's so many things left out of American history that it becomes, it becomes very confusing for them. When you take out the black

experience from American history, you have left a tremendous void in that presentation. And the point I'm making is from the time that black people and white people set foot on American soil, they have had a history in a common experience. And they've worked shoulder to shoulder inside by side to make this country great. And all of a sudden historians began to extract things out and leave that experience out. And it becomes confusing. It becomes very confusing. Now, what happens to kids? Okay, they come in the classroom and let's take a kid who is culturally different. He walks in the door. And these kids have been told by their parents just like you were told by your parents and I was told by your mind. You know, go to school, keep your mouth shut, your ears open, and learn. But don't challenge your teacher. Your teacher's older than you. Your teacher's much wiser.

So kids come into our classrooms in the first grade and they have blind faith in the educational system. They trust you 100 percent as teachers. You can do no wrong. You can say no wrong. They believe us when they come into our room. And I think as teachers, we should begin to number one, live up to that trust that they have in us, that faith that they have in us. We must never violate that. Okay. And number two, when kids come into our classrooms, we should find ways to make them feel a part of the American experience. You see, black kids, Hispanic kids, Native American kids have lived a different existence. They have lived a different cultural way of life than what we've normally been accustomed to. And we've got to find a way to make that way of life a part of the classroom experience, to include

them into the classroom experience. Okay. And let me give you an example. Lee Roy, who's a six-year-old black student, walks into the door for the first time, frighten the death. He's left his little environment, his community, which he's felt very comfortable with, very safe with. He comes into the classroom, which is totally foreign to him. He looks around the room, and he sees very little that he can identify with. Okay. He'll look around the room, and he'll see a picture of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John F. Kennedy, and some of the other famous presidents. But he sees very little that he or she can identify with. So first of all, if they walk in the room and they see just something they're taking to identify with, it adds to their comfort level. And it helps. They don't feel, begin to feel a part of that program. But Lee Roy comes in, and the teacher says,

okay, class, today we're going to talk about nutrition. Okay. Now, in talking about nutrition, I have this chart here, and I want you to view this chart, because number one, we're going to talk about breakfast. What's a good breakfast in American society? Bacon eggs, toast, jelly, orange juice, cereal, and milk. Right? That's a good breakfast, right? That's a good breakfast. But it's not the only good breakfast in American society. Okay. And I'm going to just show you a couple of things here. We're going to keep score. B stands for the bad guys. G for the good guys, okay? Now, who are the good guys? It's us. Who are the good guys? Right?

Those little squirts don't know anything. All they know is what we tell them, right? And what do we tell them when they walk in the door? Sit down and shut up, right? So we show Lee Roy this chart, and we say, this is a good breakfast in American society. Six-year-old kids, they see things in absolutes, right? Is she the right or is wrong? Okay. No gray air is no in between. No reasoning. Is he the right or is wrong? Okay. So what happens to Lee Roy, he says, if this is a good breakfast, then what I had this morning must be bad. Again, he walks into the room. There's nothing to make him feel comfortable. He becomes a bad guy. Why? Because he's different. Because he's different. And different does not necessarily mean a person has to be bad, but he becomes the victim. And that's where the whole deculturalization

process begins for Lee Roy. He has to reject his culture in order to try to feel a part of something else. Okay? So he comes into the room and Lee Roy is in a bad mood today. Teacher says to Lee Roy, go erase the chalkboard. Lee Roy says, I ain't gonna do that. Lee Roy, you're speaking bad English. What's wrong with you? Can't you speak proper English? Hmm. I didn't know I was speaking bad English. I spoke in this way all my life. It's the way my parents speak. My uncle, my cousins, people in my community. He begins to reject that part of his culture. And again, Lee Roy becomes a bad guy and chalk up another one for

the good guys. And you know, teachers could use that language to build upon. And I'm not saying that black dialect or black English or whatever it's called should be taught in the classrooms. Kids are going to learn it anyway. But the point I'm making is black kids in American society are bilingual. They speak two different languages. It's not bad English. It's another language that they speak. And teachers can use that to build upon. They can say to Lee Roy when he says, I ain't gonna do that. Lee Roy, is there another way that you can say I ain't gonna do that? To teach you might be surprised, Lee Roy would probably say, I refuse to comply with that request. Never know till you try. I was telling the group of teachers this morning that, you know, when I was growing

up, I lived next door to a jazz musician named Bill. And he would practice every day playing the saxophone and the clarinet. And I said, I would sit on his porch and listen to him practice. I was in the fifth grade. So I decided I wanted to play the clarinet and be a jazz musician just like Bill. I wanted to be the best. And I wanted to play that horn just like he played it. Okay. So I talked my mother and the rent and the clarinet and joined the school band. Came in the first day. I'm gonna really get down on this jazz. Okay. Band director hit the podium. Okay. Gets. We're gonna teach you kids good music. We're gonna teach you good music. Good music. Spade Toe and Bach Browns. And it is good music. It's not the only good music. And what about Leroy? Hmm. This is good music. Then what

I've been listening to are either Franklin, War, BT Express, so on the others. That must be bad. So again, Leroy is excluded. He's excluded. He's not brought into the process by taking his experience and his musical taste into accountability. And see, one does not necessarily have to replace the other, you see. And I think if we can begin by having a tolerance of each other's culture, just the basic tolerance, I think we will be in a long ways down the road of cultural understanding. And you know, I played good music from the fifth grade to the 10th grade. In the 10th grade, I traded in my clarinet for a football and

I never picked up one sense. Never again. Well, Leroy is not doing too well, is he? You know how you tell the good guys? You watch a TV. They always wear white hats, right? And they never sweat. You obviously these good guys, you know, they jump off their horse, you know, and they beat up the bad guy. He's always on the black horse with a black suit and a beard, go to what he had and he's bad guy. And he loses his hat and he gets all dirty and he's sweating and dirt all over his face. But the good guy, he just kind of dusts himself off his white suit and neat and clean and he never loses his hat. But Leroy becomes the bad guy. Not doing too well. And I'll give these examples to show you what happens to kids who are culturally different when they come into your classroom. And it would

be a very simple procedure to set the record straight on this, to begin to make Leroy and Juan and Eagle Fathers to feel comfortable in our classrooms. Can you imagine what it would do to Leroy's ego? To know that one of the world's greatest military strategists was a black man, a black general by the name of Hannibal. We've all heard of Hannibal. Led the elephants through the Alps, the African troops and occupied Rome for about 17 years. Some people say that's why you have so many dark skin attackers today. Hannibal was there, you know. But can you imagine how good it would make Leroy feel to know that, hey, I've had a part to play. And the other kids, how they would look at Leroy a little differently, just by knowing, but hey, Leroy, he's all right. You see? He's all right. Wouldn't it make

Leroy feel good to know that? You know, every time we come to a traffic light and we stop when the light turns red, we go when it turns green. You know, it's a black man telling you to stop your car. Do you know that? He's giving you a command because Garrett A. Morgan, who was a black inventor, invented the traffic light. And I hope none of us ever need a blood transfusion. But if we do, we can thank Dr. Charles Drew, who was a black physician who invented blood plasma. You know, the first successful, open heart surgery ever performed in this country was done by a black man by the name of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. You know, Leroy, you'd feel good about that, don't you think? Isn't that what teaching is all

about making kids feel good about themselves? And I think if we do that, we're doing our kids a tremendous service by just making them feel good. And then the learning just really takes place. I mean, it just happens. It comes. Kids feel good about themselves. There's no stopping them. And once they feel good about themselves, we can begin to raise their expectation levels. We can expect more of them. And I guarantee you, if we expect more of them, they'll reach those levels. They will reach those levels. You know, I have three kids of my own. And I have one rule in my house. You better not come home with a C on your report card. If you do them a strongly, okay? But my kids, I have certain expectation levels for them. I've said, and I've done this along with them. Because if I honestly feel I have my daughter, she came home with a C in chemistry. Okay? A C plus.

And she was close to a B. Okay? And I said to her, I said, why did you get this C plus? She said, daddy, I'm taking, she's taken algebra too. She's taken enriched English. She's taken an enriched history class. She's under, she's taken French too. And she's got a pretty heavy schedule. So, you know, I'll let us lie at that time. But she said, there was a couple of things that she didn't do that she could have done and she'd bring that up. So we raised the expectation level. And I think kids will reach those. You know, we got hung up on this thing. Well, I don't want to push my kids too hard. Well, I think we're going to have to start pushing kids a little bit more. Okay? When, when we're pushing too hard, they'll scream, they'll say, out, you know, kids are not like they used to be. You know, they used to sit around, just take everything we give them. They'll, they'll

say, look, I can't handle it. Back off, bug off, or whatever they say. But I think we've got to, as teachers, we've got to become a little bit more concerned about the kids that we teach. Okay? You know, these kids are coming to our classrooms and they really look up to us. Believe it or not, they look up to us. They look to us to be examples for them to follow. Okay? And I knew, you know, when I was growing up, and I got ready to go to college, I went to talk to my counselor, and he kind of felt that college wasn't for me, that perhaps I was better off doing something with my hands. And they'll get me wrong. It's wrong with doing something with your hands. But they had channeled me into, and let me give you an example of my high school curriculum. My classes went like this. I had a history

class, I had an English class, I had auto mechanics too, which meant the year before I had auto mechanics one, I had arts and crafts too, arts and crafts, you know, too, which meant the year before I had our arts and crafts one. And I had a six-period PE class, and they put all athletes in six-period PE class so you can have an extra hour to practice. So in the fall, I'd play football, so I got an extra hour of weight training and all of that. After that, I'd play basketball, and I'd fall in that, I ran track. So that's the way my curriculum looked. At that time too, we didn't have all these student age programs. So I didn't know how I was going to go to college. It was presented to me that perhaps I should go to the military or find a job working with my hands. Those were the two alternatives

that I had to go to college. But fortunately, I had something quite society wanted. I could shoot a basketball, and in exchange for that, I went to college. But there were three images in my community of people who were making money. You know, we associated wearing a suit every day in suit and tie with athletes. And those three images I had were teachers, preachers, and pimps. You know, the pimps wore the silk, shark skin suits, and they drove these big cars, and they had rings on their fingers, and fancy hats. But I noticed one thing about the pimps that disappear from time to time, you know, for about two or three years and then they come back again. Preaching, well, the kind of life I was living, I didn't think preaching was for me. So I became a teacher, I became a teacher, and I haven't regret

it. One minute, but images are very important, okay? And we've got to tell our students that they can reach for a little bit more than what they think they can attain. They can become scientists, engineers, philosophers. You know, there are a lot of other professions out there, other than, you know, this country can only absorb so many Sami Davis juniors, so many Kareem Abdul-Jabars, so many Walter Patens. Those are the exceptional people because they have exceptional talents. But we can absorb a number of doctors and lawyers and engineers. I mean, the world is just wide open for our young people if they will prepare themselves and go out and take their place in this society. You know, when I was teaching in high school, I felt that every day I walked into that classroom, I felt, number one, I'm the best teacher

in the world. I'm the best areas at what I do. And I felt that every day I walked into that classroom. And I had a large number of students, but I dealt with my students on the one-to-one basis. You know, given an example, the principal would always, well, the principal was complaining once the teachers were complaining about the kids coming to class late. You know, they had five minutes to get between classes. And the bail would ring and kids sliding down the door. And finally, before the bail stopped ringing, they rushed to their seat and said, I only go, I made it. The solution to the problem from the principal standpoint was to extend it to 10 minutes. Okay. You know, that didn't work. I'll say, took a little, gave him a little extra time to talk to their girlfriends, to smoke another cigarette, drink another coke or what happened. And they were still coming in late. I had a record player in my room, and I played all the latest records in between classes. All the latest

hits. And the record cost you what, 98 cents, and I played the latest records. And my kids were in my classroom. Of course, I had some of the kids from across the hall as well, but my kids were there. Okay. I was a kind of teacher that I gave a test every Friday. Okay. Every Friday, my students could count on having an exam. But I never used a test as a club to say, if you don't shout out, I'm going to give you a test. How many times have we heard that? We threatened them with a test. And a test should be a way that we measure what we have taught our kids. Not a weapon, not a club. They shouldn't fear taking a test. And you know, I used to have a fear of taking exams. I never had to take them anymore. But I'd freeze up because the test was intimidating to me, and they shouldn't

be intimidating to students. But I gave a test every Friday. And I think the worst thing that a student can get on an exam is a zero. Now, all of us in this room, we think we're fairly decent looking, right? I mean, you know, we would make any movies, but you know, we think we offer. What if you ask your girlfriend or your boyfriend to say, hey, look at her on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate me? Zero. What would that do to your ego, your self-esteem? You know, I'd give my kids a test, and I always gave them an essay question. That was a bonus question. We're 15 points. If they looked up and got a couple of more, you know, they'll be at least 30, 45 is better than zero. And I'd always ask them a question.

And I'd ask them to answer the question first, that the bonus question. And I'd ask them a question like, who is your favorite teacher? Why am I? And I'd tell them to answer that question first. And that way they felt good about taking the test. It loosened them up a little bit. And they were starting out at 15 points, okay? I had a kid in my class that was pretty disruptive, but he made these strange noises, you know, like everybody's working on something and it's all quiet. And you hear these strange noises coming and you look around the room to find out where it's coming from, the other students are cracking up because you can't figure it out. And then finally one of his buddies gave him away, you know, but he's doing it. I'd give an essay test, a multiple-choice question. And I would say on there, who discovered America? Columbus, the Native Americans, America's, whatever

his name was, and Jimmy Baca. Jimmy Baca was the guy that's making all the noise, okay? So when the kids came to that particular question, Jimmy Baca, is that you? Then everybody else from around the room would be looking at Jimmy Baca saying, you know, and he got the attention that he was looking for. Without any fanfare, without any shaking him up, embarrassing him in front of the class, who's done in a very positive way. Jimmy felt a part of the class. And it worked. Simple things like that. They worked. You have a lot of discipline problems, but be firm and you probably heard this before and be fair. And don't back down, okay? And you can handle discipline in such a way that the students

will respond if you do it in a positive way. Show the kids that you're interested in on. And the reason that you have to do what you're going to do is because you're concerned about them. And if you don't stop it now, they're going to have problems later. And, you know, I had three kids in my class, history class. They all sat together and they all kind of, they were really disruptive. And finally, I got to the point where I said, okay, you know, three, let's go outside. So we went outside, took my coat off, loosened up my tie, and say, look here, can only be one guy in here that runs this classroom, you know, we got a problem here and we're going to settle it. Now, how do you guys want to settle it? All three of you one time or one at a time. They looked at each other and I wasn't smiling one bit. Just got serious. So they said, hey, okay, they're back down. I went, I'm glad

they did. I'm glad they didn't call my bluff. But I could do that because of my size. I don't recommend some of you doing that. But that's one way I handled a particular problem. The other one I had a kid that was just not doing what I thought he should be doing in class. He was making D's when I thought, and I knew he could make B's or A's. He just did the bare metal. Took him outside and I said, look, nobody else around just you and I. I said, if you flunk this test coming Friday, I'm going to kick your, you know, where he sits down, okay? And he looked at and I said, I'm serious. You can do better in this class. Now, that's the only thing I think you can respond to and we're going to get a settle. You're going to pass my class. I said, because I take it personally when students don't pass my class. And I said, you're making me look bad and I really don't appreciate it.

He started passing my test. He started doing a little better. I don't recommend that, you know. But you handle these things. You use a little creativity to handle these things. You know, when I was director of a teacher training program, I had teachers that after about six weeks of training, I sent them into the classroom without any textbooks, without any printed materials. And I said, okay, for two weeks you're going to teach your class using a little ingenuity, okay? Some of them felt good about it, most of them didn't. Most of them felt a little uneasy. What am I going to do? How am I going to teach without my textbooks? Creativity. Because you see, I could take his shirt, okay? And I could

teach history, mathematics, science, geography, music. It can be done. And math, suddenly you're all outside to pick up 20 pebbles. You know, that's better than him sitting by the one that's looking out for the birds in the airplanes, right? Send him out there. You have a couple of minutes. He's appreciated. Pick up 20 pebbles. Come back. Get a jute tin. How many do you have left? You have Mike Fine. You see, it's not a little better than just abstract things on the board. It's something that they can hold on to, they can feel, they can see, they can experience. And sometimes you ought to try that, you know, try teaching without your textbook. Use your own creativity, find new ways, new techniques

to reach students. You'll be a better person for it and you'll have better students. And it works. It works. I mean, there's just so many things that can be done just by sitting down and saying, look, I'm going to try something different, okay? I'm going to try something different. Give you another example when I taught at Albuquerque High. It was the only black teacher there and I call myself the head black in residence, okay? Everything that happened with black students, they came to me and said, hey, what's going on? One day this teacher came to me, she was about this tall, even if that, about five to, and her eyes were about that big. And she had five black male students in a class and they all came in and that day was sunglasses on. And she, what does that mean? What does it mean? You know, am I going to have a problem? I talked to her for a while and I finally figured

out what the deal was. And I sent her back to her class. She said, look, just go back to teach her class. You'll have any problems. I guarantee you. And I found out that the reason that the five black students came with a dark glasses on was that she was given a test that day. And the brothers weren't ready. So they wore the dark glasses so they could look on somebody else's paper and the teacher couldn't see their eyes. And when I was in high school, we used to call dark glasses cheaters. You weren't your cheaters today, huh? Yeah, you're going to class. So if you got students that come in all of a sudden with dark glasses on and you're given a test, beware, because you can't see their eyes. But you look for things like that. And as I said, teaching is a beautiful profession. And I don't envy you. I do envy you. But what happens? And in closing, I'm going to allow for an exchange for a few minutes. But what happens to our failures? What happens

to the kids that we don't reach? Where do they end up? They end up in springer. They end up at the youth dark diagnostic center. They end up unemployed, unemployable. You realize by the time that a young person reaches the age of 15 that they have viewed more than 18,000 hours of TV, 18,000 hours. And they've listened to more radio than that. They spent 11,000 hours in class and only 3,000 hours in religious training. TV has become the prime educator for our children. And that's what we have to compete with. We have to compete

with the quick solutions that come about in 30 minutes on the TV program. We have to compete with Starsky and Hutch and all the violence that we see on TV. That's our competition. And we're going to have to find a way to overcome the competition because it's there, it's real, it's visible, and it's powerful. And that's what we're up against. But these kids do end up outside the fringes of our economic system because they're unemployed and unemployable. These are the kids that end up in our institutions. And we found that those kids that end up in these institutions have one common problem. Well, two common problems. They didn't finish high school. And number two, they can't read. They can't read. And you know, if you can't read, you've got some serious problems in this society. You have some serious problems. So we're turning out products 18 years old through what

I call the assembly line educational process. They start on the assembly line at first grade end. They go down the line and we pass them on. And it's just like Detroit, you know, with the cars. They're hurting right now, right? Why? Because the Japanese are building a better car. Those factory workers that assembly line workers that stand there and say, I'm tired. I don't feel like putting this boat in the engine. And it goes down the line with that boat missing. And that's what happens in education. Somewhere down the line the teacher didn't put that boat in there to secure the engine to the mount. And the end result is an 18 year old kid who went through the process. Gets out of school and he can't read. Can't even pass the entrance exam to get into college, to get into the military. And what do we say to those kids? To your dumb, you can't even read. And I sincerely

believe that every student that walks into your classroom, the mere fact that they're there. For whatever reason, they come into your classroom and they sit down there challenging you. They're saying to you, teach me. Teach me. Teach me if you can. Teach me if you dare. But teach me. And we've got to find ways to reach them, to teach them, to educate them and turn them out as productive citizens in our society. I'll stop there and if you have any questions, I'll be glad to respond to them. You know, when this happens in my classes at the university, I say, I'm the greatest teacher in the world. I explain things so well that nobody has any questions. I don't have a question. I don't go ahead. What do you do? Do you do that lady? I just need a lady to get a flat face down. And it scares

me just like climbing one lady to do that lady. She got knocked down? No. Will the guys gather still? I'll tell you this. Number one, you know, a guy who hits a lady is not very looked up on very well among his peers. And number two, it's just like a, you know, if you ever seen a dog that's all of a sudden bit somebody and they bit that person because they showed fear, you see. I'm saying, hold your ground. You don't have to challenge them from a standpoint that, hey, we're in a confrontation situation and we're going to have to beat each other up. Hold your ground and say, look, you know, I'm interested in your welfare. Even if you're not, here are the things that you're going to have to do to put your act together and put it back on their shoulders. You don't have to challenge them. But what I'm saying is just be sincere and show an interest in those students. And

if you show an interest, you won't have those kind of problems. Anybody else? I know there are a number of boys that were close all day long. And they have a jack of stuff that they would continue to wear for a line of gloves or any of them that have. And I got, I got, knowing that I have some of the other teachers. I got known to education of the Angle Children. The white men of the white boys were blood. I'm in our class and I'm going to be a point when bloods are inappropriate. What do I do to just let them ruin their blood or talk to them? Number one, I wouldn't make a big deal out of it. We went through this when I was teaching

in high school with the black male students who would come to class with little caps on the head. And they had them sitting in all directions. And you know, the way I was brought up, you don't wear a cap or had inside the house. But what I told the teachers, look, don't make a big deal out of it. You know, it's not disrupting anything. Just let them wear their caps because it was important to them at that time to wear those caps. You see because white men have been telling black men all our lives take your cap off when you talk to me and don't look down, don't look me in the eyes. And these students were trying to make a point. And they wore their caps. Nobody made a big deal out of it. Girlfriends got to them and say, man, why are you wearing that silly cap? And they stopped wearing the caps, okay? So what I'm saying is, don't make a big deal out of it. If they can do the artwork and their gloves, let them do it, okay? Just don't make. See, once you start

pressing it, then it becomes extremely important to them. If you ignore it pretty soon, it's just like any other fad that's going to pass on. See, we get too flushed by the unimportant things, you see. And we need to spend more attention on the important thing. Cause those kids with the gloves, if they can paint or whatever and they want to mess up their gloves, just don't worry about it. As long as they get to work in and do it, get it in on time. You just start making a big deal out of it then you got some problems. I don't know if we're starting off in a young culture of society. When I watched the news on the national level, I always noticed that one of the biggest issues involved in this around the nation is that we're into pressing, pressing children here, pressing children here. I know that we're going to achieve a better education. Now I'm just going to put some of

them in. You would have to ask me that. To me, excuse the pun, bus is only a vehicle that would move us towards quality education. That's what I want for my child, a quality education. And if I have to put my kid on a bus and send them on the top of Sandy Mountain in Albuquerque for quality education, then I'll do it. I remember the time growing up when we had segregated schools here that bus and wasn't such a big deal because they used to bus black kids from Tatum New Mexico all the way to Hobbes. Nobody was crying then about busing. Nobody was crying about the expense of busing. You see, it was done for a different reason. You might recall a few years ago in Michigan, I guess some people went out and they blew up these buses, like the buses are the problem.

You know what I mean? Okay, you get mad, you take it out on the bus. But I think that's what we want for all our kids, quality education. And it's been a proven fact that the best teachers are usually assigned to more fluent neighborhoods. Okay? They take care of their kids. They assign the best teachers there. And if that's where the best teachers are, that's where I want my kids. So my kids compete with those kids who are in those classes. You see? And if my kid is not there, he's going to be at a disadvantage. Because those kids are going to get a better education, they're going to get a better job, and they're going to have a better standard of living. You see? So if we have quality education across the board, I wouldn't see any problem. Because that's all I want for my kid. Because whether he's in school, whether he's downtown in the shopping center, he's going to come in contact with non-black people. You see? But if I can ensure that my kid is going to get a quality education, I don't care what school it is, that's where I want my child.

It's not a bad idea. But you know, unfortunately, a lot of good teachers stay in the system for a number of years, and they go on to something else. Quality teachers, in a lot of cases, in a lot of them leave. They go into insurance, they go into sales, they go on, and I know a lot of my friends. You know, I would like nothing better than to be in the classroom. And I think Jerry can tell you, I've shown a little bit more enthusiasm for this group. Because it's kind of like I'm back in the classroom that I did the other lectures I gave you, because you know, that's where I would really like to be. But unfortunately, I went on to some things that I felt that would give me a better stand as a living for my family. And I think it would give me a better stand as a living for my family.

Yeah, it was just something I just responded to, you know, because I would handle other kids in a different way. And I knew that those three kids, that's what they wouldn't respond to. You couldn't reason with them, you couldn't give them extra work and all that stuff. That's what they responded to. Other kids respond to praise. You know, to get flunked to test and you say, you know, Jimmy, I, you know, you can do better than this. I'm just wondering, did you, are you having some problems? You know, can I help you with something? Because this D, you certainly have better students than that.

Now, you did good in these three areas here, but these areas, maybe we need to work on them a little bit. So you know, take them, say, man, you made a D, you screwed up this whole thing. Then they get, oh, but if you can praise them, and give them a little pat on the back, give them, give them a little stroke. Because how many kids get that? I mean, you know, if you're everybody's down on them, you see. I have one on the back, so just just there, and she plays with her right also. She plays with her right-ass, and she doesn't have to read that from here, or she's just with her right back. But she does not read the title. You may need some help. You may need some help from a counselor or the parent. And I wouldn't, you know, most parents are concerned about their kids. And parents, between the two of you, you may be able to reach that child in some way.

And I know, I tell teachers, you know, call me. If anything goes wrong, if you want to discuss something with me, I want to know, and I want to know early, so we can, you know, get on the problem. So you may need to go to the counselor. You may need to talk, maybe to the school psychologist or the nurse, and then talk to the parent, and try to find a way that the three or four of you can reach that child. So you can't do it all yourself. You may, you know, with some athletes, you might have to go to the coach, you see, and say, look, we got a problem here. You know, I remember one thing that really stuck in my mind. I was teaching, my first teaching assignment was elementary PE. And I had a kid that I thought was just lazy. They couldn't do pull ups, they couldn't do push ups. And finally, I kept noticing this kid, and I went to the school nurse, and I said, look, you know, I got a problem with this kid. He's really behind the rest of the kids.

And the other kids started laughing at him, you know, and I felt maybe I was pushing this kid a little hard. The nurse talked to the kid, checked him out, took him down, found out the kid had musculoskeletist. You know? So what happened was I didn't keep riding the kid. I went to the nurse and said, maybe you can explain some things, you know, to me. So, you know, you just have to, you might have to reach out and find some help somewhere. But the thing is, when you notice these things, you know, these kids do need help. And usually, some up and feel like they can't go to their parents. But if you make yourself available to them, and don't violate their confidence, you can help a lot of kids because they will come to you as teachers. Anybody else? I wanted to ask you about parent-teacher confidence in what rounds up of observing in my school.

Our teacher just sent out evaluation mid-term evaluation things, checking boxes and remarks about their progress in the class. And one of the black girls in the social studies classes, I don't know the situation well enough, but he might cooperate and teach us that really it was just a matter of half of the, her assignments were halfway there. And, you know, she just come in and she did appear that way. Well, her mom came in for a conference. And she was so awkward that it was, she was afraid to complete sentences. And she was speaking a different language and very embarrassed by it. And I was wondering what sort of things you could do to communicate, to keep them from being defensive or nervous or scared or any tips you might have, because it was just agonizing for this. Yeah, you know, a lot of times when we ask parents to come in, there's a problem.

And parents come in and they feel well, I wonder what the problem is. And I wonder if they're going to blame me for the problem. And you can make it easier for them by doing, you know, phrasing things in such a way that they, all they have to give you is a direct answer, yes and no. Well, I think so, things like that. Gradually get them into it, show them that you're interested in their child, just as interested as they are. And pretty soon, when they find out that it's not a problem, that you didn't call them in there because, you know, there's a serious problem. And that you are trying to make it easy for them, comfortable for them. And pretty soon you'll establish a report and communication will take place. When I was a senior in college, my roommate was a guy from Argentina. And he didn't speak English and I didn't speak Spanish. And it was awkward for him, you know, because he was surrounded by English-speaking people. And I picked up enough Spanish, so we developed a base of communication.

And it made it a lot easier for him to begin to talk to other people. So, show them you're interested in their child. And there's no major problem that you're here together to try to help a person that both of you have an interest in. And it'll be all right. Well, I'd enjoy it. Big part. For example, I don't think it'd be out of line. I think you're looking for a way to communicate. But I would say that if it all possible, you could... I mean, I don't know how to say this other than, you know, I understand more Spanish than I think I do. I went to Mexico on the fishing trip. My dad and I...

But the thing is, I was trying to communicate in that person's language. And they made it easy for me. I don't know. There's just a way. It's hard to explain. But if you have a difficulty in doing that, I would ask for an interpreter because you've got to have a base of communication because you have a mutual interest. But I would say, first of all, try to establish a line of communication yourself. And however you do that is up to you. But I think if you can do it on your own, that would be a lot better. But if you have a difficulty, I don't think... And if it's done in such a way that the other person understands, I don't think it would be out of line to get somebody to act as a go-between. This happens to so many Spanish-speaking people in court. You know, they go to court and... You know, there's a language problem, evil with blacks. You know, we say things in such a way that it means something else to other people. We end up in...