I Am the Light of the
World. W-61
A Course in Miracles
Foundation for Inner Peace,
2nd Edition
As I was going through a bunch of
old papers last week, I came across something that I had scribed in 2002. At
the time, I was an assistant principal at a middle school and (too) much of my
time was spent dealing with the disciplinary referrals sent to me by teachers
who believed that they had exhausted the tools in their toolbox for dealing
with disruptive students. Let it be said that most teachers had a good handle
on how to apply the Code of Conduct while allowing the students to maintain
their dignity. But a very few saw
only with their eyes and not their hearts, and for whatever reasons withheld
the very thing that many unruly students truly needed: love and respect…or for
those not comfortable with the L-word in schools, insert caring and respect.
Kids know when you love them/care
for them. They gravitate toward you and they trust you. Once that is
established, the sky’s the limit! Not only can teaching and learning take
place, but the classroom can be a place of solace and joy. It is that for which
I strove in my room and then later within the four walls of my administrative
office.
On October 3, 2002 a young African
American girl was written up by one of the few teachers who chose not to look
beyond her own fear, and who didn’t take the time to get to know this young girl who
had transferred to our suburban school from the city.
Across from my desk, 8th
grader, Nyiesha sat with her head bowed down. Aloud, I read the referral, which
was written in large bold handwriting and brash language that described an
uncooperative, angry child. I asked this young girl to tell me what she believed had occurred in the
classroom, and she complied. Somehow the two accounts didn’t
reconcile.
Seeing tears running down her
beautiful black cheeks, I asked Nyiesha if she were happy in her new
school.
“Uh-uh. No, Mam,” she said softly.
“Were you happy in your other
school, in the city?”
“Yes, Mam.”
I remember that I sat there for a
while thinking and reflecting, my heart aching for the little one across from
me. “Nyiesha,” I asked, “do you
know many people here yet?” She silently moved her head from side-to-side.
“And, do many people know you?”
“No.”
Again, we sat in silence while I
conjured an image and offered it up. “Nyiesha, if you could stand on the
stage in the auditorium and look out at all of the students and adults, what do
you think you would see?”
She thought for quite a long time
before responding. As the young girl rendered her litany, her voice slowly ascended into a
crescendo like that of a preacher at
the pulpit, I took notes (and later
formatted them to what you see below).
When
I stand on the stage and look out at all of the students of this school
I
see
Some
students who are respectful
Some
students who are disrespectful
I
see
Some
students who are nice and treat each other as equals
I
see
Some
students who don’t care and
Some
students who do care and don’t worry
about what others think
I
see
Some
students who don’t like school
And
some students who do like school
I
see
Some
students who came to learn and can ignore the ones who don’t want to learn
When
I look out at the adults at my school
I
see
Some
who pay attention to kids and are teaching them how to behave;
teaching
them how to learn, and not hang out on the streets
I
see
Some
adults who don’t respect kids and treat them mean
“And you, Nyiesha, standing on that
stage in front of the entire school, what would you like everyone to know about
you? About who you are?”
Who
am I?
I am
respectful to others
I
treat others equally
I
come to school to pay attention and ignore others who don’t
I
pay attention to teachers because they teach you right from wrong
I
see myself as a role model
Someone
who is sweet, gentle and smart
I am
someone, who in 6th grade was awarded the
Model Citizen Award
All
ten months of the school year
I
want them to know this Nyiesha
When she was finished, she sat back
in her chair looking at me with her head held high. We smiled at each other and I
thought:
This
Nyiesha, who is immersed in a totally foreign environment and is just trying to
get by.
This
Nyiesha, who is alone and friendless two months into the school year.
This
Nyiesha, who isn’t shown love/care and respect, but instead is isolated and
dismissed.
This
Nyiesha, who was honored as a Model Citizen all ten months of her 6th
grade year.
This
Nyiesha, who if looked at through the eyes of love would have been seen as
The
Light of the World.