It never fails...Fridays seem to be full of foibles. Every week. Perhaps because I'm letting my guard down and gearing up for a lovely weekend, or perhaps it's God's little way of saying, "This is fun! Laugh. Then you'll be more ready to return come Monday morning." Ugh. Monday mornings. I will refrain from hopping atop my "Monday morning soap-box." I don't hate Monday mornings, I just get real anxious and often have weird stomach things. TMI. Sorry. Anywho...
WARNING: If you are easily offended, do NOT read on. I will do my best to stay PC (my favorite acronym - Politically Correct), but my definition of PC might be a step (or two) below yours. Don't say I didn't warn you...
Today I was working with my 6th hour in the computer lab (why must all foibles occur in the computer lab?!) when I went to help a beached whale [AKA: a student falling behind who needed assistance (I recognize I could have just said "I went to help a student," but I really wanted to try the "beached whale" metaphor - did it work? Don't answer that)].
The students were using google to find information for their mini research projects, and this particular kiddo kept getting hundreds of thousands of options, but he said they were "all too long to read." Some call it laziness, others call it desiring to work efficiently. Whatever. So I knelt beside him to offer my assistance. It is important to note that this student is African-American (or black - whatever you think is most PC). You will find out why soon.
I typed in a few things on the google Advanced search option (have you ever played with that? You so should - it is way cool) and, once again, retrieved hundreds of thousands of options. To prove to him that they weren't "all too long to read," I opened one that I thought would be excellent. (Note: he has been researching California.) After glancing QUICKLY through the article and not entirely realizing what I was doing (an all-too-often occurrence), I told him, "There. Use that one." He looked at me in horror and said, "C! I can't do that! It's against my people!" With a deer-in-the-headlights look, I read the title of the article. It said "The KKK in California." Oh dang. (It gets worse.) Not knowing exactly what to say, I said, "I'm so sorry. I just forgot." To which the student responded, "You forgot that I'm black!?" (Please know that the entire time he was laughing relatively hysterically.) I don't remember what I said, but I think I apologized again and helped him find another source.
Lesson learned: read before you click.
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