Quite some time ago I and my family located in Miami
in order to sell a boat in our possession, in fact we lived
aboard it. We found residence in a finger[on the map] of
the City of Miami nestled between Coral Gables and Coconut Grove.
We were informed that come that September our youngest child
would be enrolled in and bussed to a school in what was known
then as the Black Grove on the South side[shades of the South side]
of Coconut Grove. Humm, okay.
After one week of coming home with no schoolwork
I instructed him to query that. Turns out that children
could not bring home their day to day efforts until
end of school year. What the fuck! Humm, okay.
We met with the teacher of our son, who incidentally was the
only white child in her class. Afterward, my wife and I stood
on the sidewalk of Grand Avenue and looked at each other;
the thought came to me, yes, society needs its garbagemen
and dishwashers[no disrespect, I have been both], what
better place to prepare them than in the schools.
Sure enough our son brought home his efforts
at end of term and we spent two nights poring over them.
What can I say, I’ll say this, we sold the boat and made
the great escape to the South. Within two or three days
of our son’s enrollment in an island school we received
a summons from his home room teacher. We knew what
to expect. The first words out of her mouth were “where
has this child been for the past year”?
After accepting our explanation she said
“okay, he will immediately be placed into remedial everything”.
Islander.