Afternoon Off and Freedom Writers

It's two o'clock and the last bus has come to the middle school to take the kids home. There were very high winds throughout this morning, at 40-60 mphs. That with some flurries caused some blowing snow that got the superintendent worried and called the school day at 1pm. Of course, it looks fine out now, but that always happens when we call school early.

Getting back from break as gone surprisingly well. The students have had less referrals and write-ups and morale seems to be good. It might have something to do with having a 3 week winter break, but who really knows. Or it could have been the movie and assembly last week.

Last Wednesday we watched a movie called Freedom Writers that stars Hilary Swank. Not an incredible movie, but as a teacher that works in an impoverished school system, it was quite moving. And the kids seemed to pay pretty close attention to it.

The next day, the students were bused to the high school and met the teacher that the movie was based on, Erin Gruwell. There, Erin talked about three of her kids stories and what it was like to make a difference to her students in classroom 203 in Long Beach, CA. At the end, she ask some personal statements to the audience, and after each one she asked for you to stand if you could relate to that statement. She started with: Stand if you are a tribal member. (Almost everyone stands) Stand if you have lived on the reservation your whole life. (Not as many, but most everyone is standing) Stand if you have never left the state. (Less stand up) And then she went deeper. Stand if you know someone who abuses alcohol. (Almost everyone in the room stood up). Stand if you are someone you know has been abused by an alcoholic (Most people are standing). Stand if you speak Lakota in your home (Only a handful out of the hundreds in attendance are standing). Stand if you know someone who has killed by gang violence (75% stand up). Stay standing if you know more than 1 (Most stay standing). More than 2 (Half of those standing sit down). More than 3 (Another half of those sit down). 4 or more (A handful of students are still standing).

It was a moving moment to actaully see these kids stand up and realize that they aren't the only ones going through the same problems. For me personally, it was a moment to give thanks for wonderful life I have been provided by my family and by making the right personal choices.

The biggest suprise out of that whole assembly was to see that more then 3/4ths of the students want to move off the reservation. I had no idea that so many of those kids wished to move away. If that's what these students truly want to do, then they have to realize how important there education is to fulfilling that goal. Perhaps that will motivate more kids to work harder. Without an education, these kids have zero shot of moving off the rez. But, let's hope that in the end they all get their education and give back their knowledge to the reservation and improve the conditions here. Now that's a real goal for these students.