Malcolm presents with an authenticity that includes language we might not otherwise use in the classroom setting. This piece is not required for your homework but some of you might want to explore the work of the young poet today.

In the video London talks about how schools separate and label us. He uses the term of Regulars and honors however these aren’t the only classifications given in school. When London touched on the topic it made me think of school stereotypes and how kids are forced to fit into one in order to feel accepted by their peers. An example is if a kid plays a sport like basketball, football, track, ect… they are labeled a jock which has negative connotation of being dull and stupid. On the other hand you have the kids that get good grades they are labeled as nerds and have the negative connotation of being weak and timid. In reality these classes only restrict what kids believe they can do with their life as they are branded from a young age and told what they can and cannot do.

This message stuck out to me because of how true it is. When we are kids, depending on how we grow up, we are taught how to lead or follow. Now, those who follow are too scared to lead, and those who lead may not want to follow. For example, say you were always called quiet or shy as a kid. Many people could assume you did not enjoy talking to people, when really as a child you were taught to follow instead of leading. In school we are put into classes and told if we are “gifted” or not. This could change the way we see ourselves, which could make us too scared to lead or follow.

This connects well to the other two pieces we have read about education by Malcom X and Frederick Douglas. Knowledge is power and privilege, but it should be a right, a gift. The education system and our government have been accused of falling minorities. Much of these two systems were built either without minorities in mind, or to directly prohibit their growth and success. " I hear education systems are failing but I believe they are succeeding at what they’re built to do." “No wonder so many of my people spit bars because the truth is hard to swallow.” “But reading does not matter when you feel your story is already write, either dead or getting booked.” The system has failed us before, it is failing now, and will continue to fail us well into the future unless we change it. Ignorance fails to serve as an excuse when we willing put the blindfold on.

Malcolm London expresses that “social lines are barbed wire.” The labels placed upon people, such as “honors,” “regular,” or " bully," are restrictions to society. These labels convince the person that is who they are and that will determine how much they succeed in life. This distraction wavers the true meaning of education. Everyone walks halls, attends classes,and walks through doors to acquire the same education as others, but these social lines create barriers.

London mentions this line in his poem and it really stuck with me. Especially when we were a lot younger those “social lines are barbed wire” and we dared not to cross them for fear we would be hurt or put out of place. Those “social lines” can restrict you like a prison with barbed wire to keep us where we’re “meant to be.” To keep us within our social groups that, I, myself, had to learn the hard way, are superficial and unrealistic expectations put on by ourselves. Phrases like “they don’t like” or “they think I’m weird” don’t matter. Those “social lines” can restrict the creativity and friendliness schools preach they let flourish, yet get diminished at an early age. Only as you grow older do you learn it doesn’t matter on your own through your own experiences.

During Malcolm London’s TED Talk, he brings up how our education system has fallen, and is failing us. London talks about how school is segregated, to put us into certain groups, so we fall into where they believe we should be. If you are in certain classes, you are looked at in a specific way; if you play sports, you are looked at a specific way. We are put into categories to be separated, which then can affect who we hang out around that ends up with us in to their groups. If you play sports and are in honors classes, you receive a label for yourself that can make you “popular”. If you are involved in no sports, and are in standard classes, you are labeled “regular”. When we receive these labels in school, it can lead to being indecisive after graduation; we feel that our story has been planned for us, so we follow were they lead us. They train, and lead, us to our part they see us in on this Earth. We are their soldiers.

This statement, is a message, the message that is being conveyed is that the separation of “regular” students and “honors” students is wrong. I think this ties in with a sort of favoritism seen within schools. The students who walk through school without a single care in the world and succeed tend to frustrate those who struggle. A lot of those times, the students who struggle, do not receive the proper help and support they need to make it just like the honors do. In fact personally, me being a student who does not have to much trouble in school I see these students that struggle, I understand the lives the live and the stress and the responsibility they put on themselves is astronomical. These students need our attention, not the honor role who breeze through. Punishment is not the answer for the students who struggle.

People often praise education as the one way to lift people out of poverty. While a quality education can give people opportunities they never thought possible, sometimes the advocates forget just how difficult it is for some communities to get that education and the barriers to it like violence and unsupportive households. Another aspect of the line is the harsh alliteration of the “b” sound.

In Malcolm London’s TED talk, he discusses high school stereotypes and how it affects them. For example, Malcolm talks about the “regulars” of his high school. More examples are jocks and nerds. He also talks about how these labels mean nothing because majority of people’s inner personality is never shown.