Here in America and every single state
they have a set of standards for every subject, a collection of
lessons that the teacher's required to teach by the end of
the term. But the greatest lessons you will ever teach us will
not come from your syllabus. The greatest lesssons you will ever
teach us you will not even remember.
You never told us what we weren't allowed to say. We just
learned how to hold our tongues.
Now somewhere in America there is a child holding a copy of
Catcher in the Rye and there is a child holding a gun. But only
one of these things have been banned by their state government
and, it's not the one that can rip through flesh, it's
the one that says "F You" on more pages than one.
Because we must control what people say. how they think. And if
they want to become the overseer of their own selves then
we'll show them a real one.
And somewhere in America there is a child sitting at his
mother's computer reding the home page of the KKK's
website and that's open to the public. But that child will
never read To Kill a Mockingbird because his school has banned it
for it's use of the n-word.
Maya Angelou is prohibited because we're not allowed to talk
about rápe in school. We are taught that just
because something happens doesn't mean we are to talk about
it.
They build us brand new shopping malls so we'll forget where
we're really standing -- on the bones of the Hispanics, on
the bones of the slaves, on the bones of the Native Americans, on
the bones of those who fought just to speak.
Transcontinental railroads to Japanese internment camps. There
are things missing from our history books. But we were taught
that it is better to be silent than to make them
uncomfortable.
Somewhere in America private school girls search for hours
through boutiques trying to find the prom dress of their dreams
while kids on the south side spend hours searching through the
lost and found 'cause winter's coming soon and that's
the only jacket they have.
Kids are late to class for working the midnight shift. They give
awards for best attendance but not for keeping your family off
the streets.
These kids will call your music ghetto. They will tell you you
don't talk right. Then they'll get in the backseat of a
car with all their friends singing how they're
"'bout that life" and "we can't
stop".
Somewhere in America schools are promoting self confidence while
they whip out their scales and shout out your body fat percentage
in class. Where the heftier girls are hiding away and the slim
fit beauties can't help but giggle with pride.
The preppy kids go thrift shopping beause they think it sounds
fun. But we go 'cause that's all we've got money for
'cause mama works for the city; mama only gets paid once a
month.
Somewhere in America a girl is getting felt up by a grown man on
a subway. She's still in ther school uniform and that's
part of the appeal. It's hard to run in knee socks and Mary
Janes and all her male teachers know it, too.
Coaches cover up star players ráping freshmen after the dance. Women are
killed for rejecting a date but God forbid I bring my girlfriend
to prom.
A girl is blackout drunk at the after party. Take a picture
before her wounds waker her. How many pixels is your sanity
worth?
What's a 4.0 to a cold jury?
What'd you learn in class today? Don't talk loud,
don't speak loud, keep your hands to yourself, keep your head
down. Keep your eyes on your own paper. If you don't know the
answer fill in C.
Always wear earbuds when you ride the bus alone. If you think
that someone's following you pretend you're on the
phone.
A teacher never fails. Only you do.
Every state in America.
The greatest lessons are the ones you don't remember
learning.
Belissa Escobedo
Rhiannon McGavin
Zariya Allen
And unfortunately, even though everyone knows it, no one takes a step forward to change it.