Teach me like you give a damn

Teach like you give a damn,

about me,

Me,

me as a student

with my experiences,

with my own passions,

with my own sufferings

that run through me like the Sun runs through the sky,

over and over, replayed daily.


Teach me like I am unique

and have something to add

to the material you teach

and the voices that feel they

have the right to flow forth

like the mighty White streams

coming down off their high places.


Teach me like I can not be denied,

like I have more intellect than

that rabbit you almost hit on the way to class,

pull from my experience as if it cannot

be denied; weave it through

the tapestry of your own, of his own,

of her own, of our own, but do not,

DO NOT!

limit me to what you think I am,

to what you think all students are,

to what you think all chicanas are,

to what you think all blacks feel,

to what you think all poor folk need,

to what you think all lesbians do,

to what you think all those with disabilities suffer.

WE ALL SUFFER, but that suffering is unique

WE ALL SUFFER, but that suffering is not

of the same essence, of the same mettle.

our hearts are not the same,

but I deserve the same ability of voice,

as the next and the next and the next and the next

as the next and the next and the next and the next

as the next and the next and the next and the next

as the next and the next and the next and the next

as the next and the next and the next and the next

as the next and the next and the next and the next

student all lined up in your neat little rows,

or around your circle when you're feeling progressive.


If you give a damn, teach me.

A very nice reminder that a mind is a terrible thing to waste and usually the sexiest quality any one of us can possess. :)

mmmm yes i like this, makes one realisze the power of the mind, not sure how personal it is!! but i feel the words and hope that the other does too.................................

this was a reaction piece to bell hook's teaching to transgress in on of my doc classes over the summer. it caused a small riot on the discussion boards, and an even larger riot when I placed a copy of it in all the faculty boxes at work.

The whole thing is a jab at all teachers, including Me. So often we see our students as an objective piece of classroom, taking from them their subjectivity. Worse, progressive teachers, who have the best intentions, see diversity in their classrooms, but it becomes a shallow reflection on diversity, limiting students to the essentiality of their visible/disclosed social markers.

If there are other teachers/faculty in O/ur little community, please find me. We have much to discuss.