What the Hell Is It?

Location

What the hell is it?

First, you want me to raise my hand in class

Then, you want me to particapate less

Now, you want me to completely shut up?

What the hell is it?

Please hurry up

Make up your mind

And teach me something

'Cause my stomach is on ten.

You're acting like I have time to waste

Like I am just another slave on the plantation

Just trying to make another dollar

Just so you can stand up at your little desk

And say to me "I have already gotten my degree,

You gotta go get your own."

Do I look like I care?

I know I gotta go get mine!

Why else would I be in your class?

It's not like I have any other choice

Or desire to be here today.

If I wanted to

I could be at home watching Power Puff Girls

Or the new episode of Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta

Or even think about doing a drive by in somebody else's neighborhood

Because my uncle just got shot.

Hell, maybe it would be a great time for me to decide to commit suicide.

But you wouldn't know that

Because you are still here for a paycheck.

Though I may not know everything

I still know that your paycheck isn't no more

Than the check of the president of the state's hospital.

No less than the average minimum wage

Of a pizza delivery boy.

I may not have a master's degree in teaching

But I have PhD in common sense.

History may repeat itself

But only you and I can change the future.

You want me to be a true scholar?

Challenge my mind and not my personality.

Challenge my opinions and not my goals.

So, when you see me in class tomorrow morning,

Don't look at me and ask "Why aren't you doing your work?"

Or ask "What's with the attitude?"

When you enter the classroom tomorrow morning,

You should put yourself in the mind of a high school student

And say "What the hell is it?"

Because it's clearly that you need help with finding your righteous self

Since you have lost it.

 

-Lauren Pointer

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