True story....
Back when I was teaching elementary school, a biracial 4th grader who was actually 5th grade age (I'll call him C) responded to my query as to why he failed the weekly spelling test with the following cop out:
"I failed my spelling test because your ancestors held my ancestors as slaves."
AOW: "Wrong! My father's family objected to slavery on principle and never held slaves. My mother's family lived on land that wouldn't sprout black-eyed peas, so never even considered acquiring a slave. You failed your spelling test because you didn't study. Man up!"
I'm proud to say that, some three decades later, C and I are in touch via Facebook. He decries his stupidity of all those years ago. Yes, we have discussed this specific incident.
And, C has thanked me for holding him personally accountable five hours a week, 180 days a year for three years. His father had walked out, and his mother was undergoing treatment for breast cancer; nobody else was around to hold C responsibility for his own actions. What a round of tough love we went through!
Today, C is a wonderful, albeit strict, father and extremely successful in his field (computer systems, one of which is used by one of the big hospitals here). Oh, and he's politically conservative.
