One student, S1, walked into my room yesterday morning for advisory & was ecstatic to show me his new cell phone. He told me how much it cost & that he got it with "his" tax refund money.
I honestly don't have the energy to tell you how I feel about "Generation Me," their sense of entitlement, & the fact that the majority of my students know about April 14th because their parents give the 12 year-old children "their" portion of the tax refund because the parents claimed the children as dependents, therefore the children "deserve" that money. I can't talk about it because it makes me so mad that I start to curse.
Please note that the student I've mentioned above is the same student who refers to the topic about "food stamps" below.
I will not comment on the discourse below, I will simply outline the conversation I witnessed this morning in my advisory between three African American students, one of which was S1. Please know that I only highlight the race of the students (S1, S2, S3) so you can better understand my shock.
S1 (male): Mmm, we got candy at home in our cabinets right now. We got it with our food stamps. Yeah. Ooh, food stamps are good for that.
S2 (female): What are food stamps?
S3 (female): (burst out laughing) What? Are you serious? (Looks at S1 & rolls her eyes) She aint BLACK!
What do you say to that? In case anyone was wondering how I handled that... I looked at S2 & said, "Excuse me. How sad that you are putting yourself & every other black person in a box. Yes, she's black, but just so you know, not every black person is on Welfare. How sad that you think that. On top of that, there are Whites, Asians, & Latinos are on Welfare too, so there's no reason to discriminate. I am actually proud of her for asking what food stamps were since she didn't know because it shows she cares about learning, which leaves less room for ASSUMING things."
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