Dangerous Minds at Delgado
by Marsha Childers, Delgado Community College
(previously printed by DCC's The Exchange)

Thursday-12:30, Building 8, room 105, it's dangerous. They sashay and saunter in, sliding into the small desks in the unventilated room. Their adult bodies hang around the desks and slouch over the chairs. Several are in work uniforms. Some don't have books; a few look dead tired. Many have missed the previous first class meeting. Race and gender, not usually characteristics I consciously notice about students, look from my vantage point at the front of the room, in this class, unusually consistent: fifteen African-American males, one Caucasian female, one Hispanic male, and two African-American females. I slip into the persona of 'The Teacher' because I am suddenly and surprisingly aware of my minority. The names on the roll the second time through are still unfamiliar to my supposedly multi-cultural tongue and I have to ask how to pronounce them. They are beautiful, ethnic names-Carmencite, Trenika, Trazi, Pedro, Collinitra, Kewana-and I don't pronounce some of them quite correctly. This class is going to be a tough one and developmental at that. They continue to talk quietly to one another and don't seem to understand why they are here. Then the 'lesson' begins and a couple put their heads on their desks or lean against the wall. As I begin to read from the Xeroxed article, anticipating that many would not have texts until grants come in, I am abruptly, but politely stopped by a soft spoken, "Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt. What does that word you just read mean?" I give the definition and read on. In a few more seconds, another polite and verbal interruption, not prefaced by a raised hand. I raise my hand to indicate appropriate procedure and the young man raises his hand and repeats his question. I answer it and realize that the majority of the class is paying attention and understanding the article. They want to talk about it. So we do. The article is a tale of an addictive gambler who has conquered various addictions and is telling of his struggle and success so that others can benefit. The students volunteer parallel stories. They share experiences. They are enthusiastic. They interrupt one another, but they are intuitively and naturally polite and respectful to me and to their classmates. Our discussion gets very animated and very unclassroomlike. This enthusiasm can't be sincere and it can't last.

Underprepared? Yes. Definitely developmental? Yes. But even when corrected or brought up short, they are polite, respectful, inquisitive, and responsive... The students of 062-118 want to be productive members of society and contribute to the well being of others.

After the first weeks, a few accumulate several absences, miss tests, are absent for papers, and still don't have books. There is a major mix-up with the bookstore and the publisher, and some have been sold grammar workbooks with many of the answers printed in them. More confusion. I talk to those at risk about the possibility of being dropped for absences or asked to leave for lack of a book. Okay, so they're just like every other 062 class. Now I brace myself for a lot of drops and more low retention.

At the class meeting after the conferences, they come back and they keep coming back. To my great surprise and delight, they miss class less and get books. Some Xerox the pages they need from other's books. I grade their first couple of sets of papers and several of them earn A's and B's. Many don't. They earn C's, D's, and F+'s. The difficulties continue, but the students keep coming. They hand in projects at midterm, and as I read journal entries, I begin to know their lives. Trazi had a brother murdered in a drug deal. Travis has been in jail. Tiffany dropped out of school and has earned a GED, but just hung around for a few years. Now in school, she sleeps in her car with her cats because her grandmother won't let the cats into the house. Her father lives with her and her grandmother because he is an addicted gambler. Pedro used to be a manager of Airborne Express, but drank and gambled himself into the loss of that job. He is starting over, still working for the company, but now in delivery. Thomas, a vet, living with his brother, also sleeps in his car to protect himself from the effects of his brother's drug habit. Anthony and VanShawn take a taxi to school for lack of more thrifty transportation, but economically and not too conveniently, share their books because they are cousins. Verma is living in the New Orleans Mission as she continues to rehab from a long-time drug habit. Michael and Trena work in nursing homes at night. Brian's girlfriend is expecting a baby and he says he excitedly awaits the birth.

They struggle. But they continue to come, and we discuss the value of education when we read Malcolm X and Arthur Ashe. We read an article about black immersion schools in Wisconsin and they gobble it up. They ask me about the origins of civil rights in the South, and they listen as I tell the story they do not know. We talk about old age, and they share stories about the elderly in their families who are ignored and sick. They describe other aging relatives esteemed and wise, to whom they go for counsel. Others tell of the religious faith which the elders in their family display. We discuss Malcolm X's life of street crime before his education, and many write papers about the positive effects of finally going to jail after getting by with a criminal life.

It is dangerous in Building 8. Our classroom is loud, and a little, maybe a lot, out of control. I am exhausted when I come out, and I feel like I have stepped back into the high school classrooms I left because of that same physical exhaustion. These crowded and troubled lives represent our developmental population. But this group, unlike so many other DEVE classes, has a chance, not only because they are more than a little smart and because they want an education, even they don't quite know what that is. The students in this group have a chance at success because they are respectful of other people and they want to listen to the teacher. They believe the teacher knows important aspects of life about which they do not know. They try to do their homework, and some times they do it well. They understand and appreciate the value of other human beings and of themselves a s a part of family, community, and even humanity. Underprepared? Yes. Definitely developmental? Yes. But even when corrected or brought up short, they are polite, respectful, inquisitive, and responsive. Healthy self-esteem and respect for others are not concepts I have taught them, and I cannot teach those traits even when I try. The students of 062-118 want to be productive members of society and contribute to the well being of others. They know that they need skills and tools which they do not have. These students we can perhaps teach.

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