Who will lead the flock?
By Kenneth Boyd, Contributing Writer
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Central State is hoping to graduate future black leaders, but from what I see on campus, that hope may not be very realistic.
Walk around Central State for a day. You’ll find the black community’s future “leaders” sleeping in class — if they even make it to class. They walk around campus with their pants hanging off their butts, doo-rags on their heads, smelling like weed. They argue with teachers because they don’t feel that they should have to wear business attire to class once a week even though most jobs are at least five days a week.
You know the guys sitting outside school buildings trying to pick up young ladies. If she does not want to talk they call her names.
You know the girls with their booties hanging out their skirts or breasts popping out their blouses and wearing nightclub attire in their 10 a.m. class. You know seniors who can’t even hold an intelligent conversation about their major and want to cuss out faculty because they are not graduating.
Martin Luther King Jr. had his dream, but he had more than that. He had a strong work ethic, he had guts, and he had mastered his craft.
Professors are sometimes just as unimpressive as their students. Just because you have “Dr.” in front of your name does not mean you know everything and that you can treat students any way you choose.
You know the professor who sits and talks about his publications, spending the whole class telling students what he has done instead of helping students learn what they need to do to get published.
You know the white professor who is just so proud to be teaching the colored folks at Central.
You know the professor who thinks he or she is so much better than others, too busy looking down on people, to help anyone or even see anyone helping them.
If Central State really wants to graduate tomorrow’s leaders, we need to improve our effort today.
Students: This is college so go to class, open a book, and close your mouth. That odd feeling you’re experiencing is called learning. Professors: Sheepskin and age don’t mean much without substance. Stop grandstanding, putting down people, crying about attendance and a lack of respect. Just teach. Give respect to receive respect. It goes both ways.
Everyone needs to cowboy up. Our future depends on it. As Cornel West once wrote “We need leaders — neither saints nor sparkling television personalities — who can place themselves within a larger historical narrative of our country and our world, who can grasp the complex dynamics of people and imagine a future grounded in the best of our past; yet who are attuned to the frightening obstacles that now perplex us.”
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