THE KIDS OF TODAY

What in the (yep, I’m going to say it) hell is wrong with our children today? Stupid is not a word that I like to use, but most of these kids are growing up “stupid.” As much as I try to remind myself that different times bring different ideas some things are down right stupid. My daughter Shay came running to me telling me that she & Breyona saw Bree’s old dance group in a video; she was all excited trying to show me the dance that, once I saw it I knew that it must have originated with something or someone foolish. “Stanky Leg” Come on now…! Somebody must have been sitting around partaking of some illegal substance and came up with this. For this “stupid” is the word that I will use. What in the (nope, I won’t say it again) is a stanky leg? I asked my children and they couldn’t give me an answer, so my question to them was, “What is it about that dance that makes sense to you?” “Well mommy, I just like doing it,” was their response. “Mommy, Breyona was killin’ it,” Shay said. My first thought was to YouTube the video to see Bree and her friend Bria’s old dance mates; it took all that I could stand to sit there through that mess looking for the dancers from Phase II. This video showed me a bootleg version of a real dance from long ago; I’ll even go as far as give it a little bit of a one leg Elvis Pressley, but come on now….Ugghhhh! I can’t imagine somebody doing this in a club without looking like they are about to have a seizure or that they were shaking off a cat. If memory serves me correctly lately our children have been mimicking dances that really are just plain stupid – lean wit it rock it; pop, lock, and drop it; it’s going down (looks like you’re starting a motorcycle); soulja boy, lipstick, bird walk and now this – stanky leg.

Had I not had the pleasure of meeting a nice young man the other day I would be terribly worried about this next generation; mine included, especially when you don’t think that there’s something wrong with the name of a dance without a meaning. Come on now…. One evening my children and I were leaving Kroger when I saw him walking to their car with his mother. I couldn’t help but notice the back of his bomber jacket, which he wore proudly; it simply said Ron Clark Academy. As I stopped his mother my first question to her was, “How do you like the school?” She beamed and that was more than enough; she didn’t need to explain. I mentioned that it was my desire to enroll Bree in RCA but it wasn’t open when she transitioned from fourth to fifth grade. Ron Clark is the kind of school that is best started in the 5th because each grade level progresses from the last. The mom said that the school interviewed both she and her son separately and it was then that he chimed in. My attention had been on the mom but as I looked down I saw great possibilities. Here I was looking into the eyes of a young man, a 6th grader that looked better than some of the adult men that I’d been around all day. He had a very nice haircut, uniform slacks, shirt and a tie. He was your typical kid but you could tell that he was a young man with manners, with purpose, with a future. He looked distinguished and it was at that moment that I felt that there was hope for tomorrow. When I mentioned that my children were enrolled at KIPP S. Fulton Academy the mother nodded that she’d heard good things about KIPP; we both silently agreed that we had something in common – our children’s education. The curriculum at both schools are very structured and demanding, but I must admit that RCA is a just a step above KIPP. On the doors as you enter RCA it is written, “Don’t go where the path may lead: go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”–Emerson. Field trips are not just for fun but they are a learning experience. If they attend a Broadway or theatre show the children must first read the story, learn the songs, and research the architecture of the theater. Before visiting NYC they first had to learn the name of every bird and tree. Even bowling is a lesson in fractions. Ron Clark believes that children must have a connection to something before they will appreciate it. What a wonderful concept! Ron Clark Academy was not a guest at the Inauguration because they wanted to give minority students a field trip. These kids wrote a song that captured the world’s attention; their first being about voting and the second was about Obama. Mr. Clark did not receive a $300,000 check from Oprah Winfrey because she liked the video on YouTube; she sees a school with purpose. These children will be the ones that will go where there is no path and leave a trail. When I see the best and brightest at my girls’ school I know that there is hope for tomorrow. When I see those at KIPP that started out on a rocky road somehow find the determination to smooth out as they grow older, I know that there is hope. “Stanky leg,” yeah the kids at RCA may be doing the dance, but thanks to the young man in the bomber jacket I believe that there is hope for tomorrow. NSBIG

~Stay Prayed Up. CLICK ON THE LINK