Thus, I Ask

3.25.11 By Stephen Yang

In my darkest hour of self-pity
I ask myself why
My focus is on content
While my students still fight

“Don’t romanticize, son!”
Most students do say,
“You gotta get yours”
I think: there are, other ways.

For content to work
We must teach to the heart
And remind our youth always,
It is they who are smart

And smart means choices
That are made beyond class
‘Cause violence and bloodshed
Are mistakes of the past

We shake our heads and ask:
“What did I get into?”
And know right there and then
There’s more we can do

I have an addition to effective teaching
And it’s not a chartered course
Placed onto a rubric
And rigorously enforced

We must make safe havens
Where students have choice
To make smart decisions
And be rewarded for voice

Lafayette once told me:
“Violence is the language of the inarticulate.”
I confess. I agree with it.

“May justice run down like waters
And righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I pray we never forget what Dr. King once dreamed:
We can never move forward seeking to do it alone
And this is the Truth our students must own.