Checking the Foundation

I admit - often I choose to remain quiet rather than speak.  This blog is my attempt to examine myself as it relates to my experiences in education, and see if my experiences can be used toward an understanding of others.

I was a child of the 60's and 70's, spending the first grade being educated in an all-black school.  My parents chose to move their five children to the "all white" school, after being approached by that system's superintendent....and so my journey began.  The year was 1967 ..... and imagine my comfort level upon entering the second grade class and there was no one else there who looked like me.  We had not gone through "total" desegregation in the south.  The teacher spent many days glaring in my face and pinching my shoulder as a form of reprimand.  I was a straight-A student in first grade.....  The only grades that I could attain that year were C's and D's.  None of the girls would play with me at recess; the guys were nice enough, but little boys were not to play with little girls.  So I dreaded free time and recess.

My sisters tell me that every evening I would come home and cry at the the drop of a hat.  What thoughts, fears, disappointments were being threaded into that little girl's spirit?  How would those experiences ultimately shape her future?  I sometimes wish that I could visit that little girl and assure her that everything would be okay.

Walk with me and let's learn more together.