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Monday, November 28, 2005
Student answers ‘call of duty’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ed Youngblood had students sit in circles so they could talk about the literature assignment from the previous night.
And every Friday he had them write an in-class essay — practice for the AP English exam.
Marcus Nathaniel Spencer, a 2004 graduate of South Gwinnett High, remembers it well. The intellectual banter. Being pushed by a demanding, engaging teacher. Youngblood, he says, was good. The best instructor he’s ever had.
As soon as Spencer of Snellville heard about Youngblood’s resignation under pressure, Spencer got involved. He talked to friends and asked them to join him in reversing what he considers an atrocity.
“Getting involved in this was just instinct, a call of duty,” Spencer told me via e-mail. “I’m in support of my friend, but I am also acting as a member of the community. Removing Mr. Youngblood is depriving these students of, in all likelihood, their best teacher and their best preparation for college. It is a disservice to them as well as Mr. Youngblood himself.”
Spencer knows the facts:
That Youngblood showed “Elizabeth,” a movie with violence and sexuality, to students in his British literature class. That a parent complained and the matter was investigated by school district administrators. That Youngblood, a veteran educator with 37 years of experience, showed the movie without getting it approved by a board of parents, teachers and students.
But Spencer doesn’t think the punishment fit the crime. He’d prefer that school administrators give Youngblood another chance in the form of a written reprimand — anything but force him out.
He’s fighting on behalf of Youngblood because he cares, not because the teacher asked him to.
“Ed Youngblood never once asked anyone to stand up and help him,” Spencer wrote in the Badie Blog (ajc.com /gwinnett). “Not once. I, we, requested his permission to stand up for what we feel is right. He granted it mainly because he feels it is our job to do what we feel is right.”
You have to admire the young man’s spunk and spirit. It’s not everyday you see people — especially teenagers — carry the mantle for something they care about.
Truth be told, Spencer has a minute chance of getting the Gwinnett County school board to revisit the issue. They’re bullheaded when they’re wrong, so imagine their stubbornness when they’re right. The school board has historically been unaffected by its occasional controversial ruling or even the overcrowding of schools. But Gwinnett is changing in so many ways. You wonder how long the school board can remain immune, particularly if it continues to be tone deaf to criticism or change.
Even Spencer admits this is a long shot. He still plans to attend the school board’s regular meeting Dec. 8, armed with signatures from folk who think Youngblood got a raw deal.
“What reaction do I expect? Refusal or amusement,” he said.
Spencer is an astronomy major at Georgia State University. He enjoys reading, sports and history. He’s taking a break from school this semester for personal time and to save money. Good thing he did.
“I wouldn’t be able to be so active in this ‘resistance’ if I hadn’t taken off,” he said.
Spencer doesn’t know where this resistance will lead him. He’s never had any plans to become politically active.
Stranger things have happened.
