April 10, 2008
An Open Letter to Lupe Fiasco
Posted by Dina under Assessment, Pedagogy, Philosophy, Stories, Teachable MomentsDear Lupe,
Did you ever wish that you could save the world?
Awhile back a student of mine, in seventh grade English, turned in an assigned poem. I loved its simplicity, its rhythm, the way the lines broke on the page. What made my heart even more glad was that it was from a kid I’ve been trying to reach for several years now.
Anyway. I was so proud of him that I posted the poem on my teacher blog earlier this week. And that’s where I found out he hadn’t written it at all. He had plagiarized “Kick, Push,” and confirmed that he had done it deliberately when I asked him about it. And not knowing your rap until this week, I had no idea.
It’s been an interesting journey, these past few days. I’ve cried once or twice. I’ve rethought how I give and support assignments for second language kids. I’ve been surfing your sites, pulling up your stuff on Youtube. I’ve fallen in love with your work. And I’ve rejected completely the punitive coercion that could serve as the consequence for plagiarism in my school. That stuff won’t work. This kid is too smart.
The only thing that will work, I’ve come to realize, is if, somehow, he talks to you.
This might strike you as overkill. What is plagiarism, after all, next to cheese heroin addiction, or teenage pregnancy, or gang bangs? But I would argue that it’s just this kind of tiny, critical choice, and how it’s handled by the adults involved, that can tip the balance in a pre-adolescent kid. Towards a life that is ruled by a living sense of the dignity of human beings, or suffocated with the stale mediocrity of selfishness. Towards a life fortified against amorality, or one that invites it in—in small ways now, and perhaps much worse ones later.
So now is the time.
I don’t really know what I am asking you for. Five minutes on speakerphone would do it. Perhaps a letter. Something that makes you real to my kid. Something that it is not yet, or may never be, within my power to do– try as I might.
Because you see, it’s not enough that you’re like a god to him; it’s not enough that he listens to you constantly and can recite your raps with passion and accuracy from memory in the middle of class. None of it matters—not the poetry, the positive role model, or the message—unless he internalizes it enough to know that in the destructive habit of taking the short, easy way out, he cheats everyone. You. All of us. And most importantly, himself.
I can’t guarantee that this will save the world. Maybe not even this kid. But it might. Will you bank on hope, with me?
Please give me a call.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ll be sending this via snail and email to Lupe’s production company, 1st and 15th Entertainment. Anyone else got any bright ideas? Contacts I can use? How much does a full page ad in the Chicago Times cost?
April 10th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
If it costs a lot, ask your readers to chip in.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Yeah– the NYT doesn’t publish their rates, but if the LA classifieds are any indication, it’s upwards of $10,000. Maybe I should forget the grand gestures and just concentrate on getting my students’ papers back to them on time.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Wow. You won’t believe this, but it’s true: I saw the poem on your site and was truly impressed. Then, earlier this week, I went and randomly bought the Lupe Fiasco CD because I had heard “Kick,Push” on NPR a loooong time ago and always wanted to get the CD. And now this? Freaky.
I can see why you’re in a tough spot. The assignment to write poetry was intended to help students understand poetry…and the student clearly understands poetry. He, on his own, recognized a track on a favorite CD as sharing qualities with poetry, and he picked an excerpt that could stand on its own as poetry. He picked an excerpt that was close enough to how he felt that you couldn’t immediately discern it as not his style.
I’d tell him that. I’d say him that I think he understand poetry pretty well, and that’s great. I’d explain that the assignment had the goal of teaching about poetry, and that I’m open to alternate ways of reaching those goals if the student comes to me first to discuss. What I’m not open to, however, is alternate ways that break rules or laws, especially plagiarism. I’d tell him he needs to write a real poem of his own, as per the original assignment. In order to get higher than a zero for the plagiarism, he needs to -also- write a real poem of his own about this situation. I’d tell him that it’s partly about having to earn his way out of punishment, and partly to teach him more about poetry: it can be hard to write when you’re constrained to a specific topic.
Getting a call from Lupe would be like a reward. Are you calling anyone for the other students? And what if Lupe did call? Then your student gets reprimanded by his idol. It would be cool if Lupe came in and talked to the whole class about how rap can be like poetry and about how he writes…and maybe he’d throw in a few points about not taking the easy way out.
April 11th, 2008 at 11:12 am
@Dave: Glad to get reinforcement– most of your very wise suggestions are already in place due to great feedback from peers such as yourself.
As per the reward, I see your point. But honestly, if an idol of mine in middle school was communicating with me specifically because I had done something wrong, I think remorse would win out over reward.
The operative idea, as you say, is that plagiarism is stealing. And stealing, as with any hurtful act, is only conceived as morally reprehensible by its perpetrators when it becomes clear how it hurts a living, breathing human being. I’m trying to do that here– and I struggle to find a way to do that for all my students, in all their behavior.
April 12th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
This story gets better and better. If Lupe writes back I’m gonna lose it completely.
April 12th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
@Dan: Dude, you got any suggestions (or a friend with $10,000 to burn), I’ll take ‘em. My bright idea today is to leave a copy of the post on his MySpace page.
April 12th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Dina,
Hell of an idea, trying to reach Lupe like this. I’m torn between the reward/remorse bit myself, not knowing this student’s personality, MO, etc., but your student is lucky in that he has a teacher like you who’s willing to go to these lengths for him.
Blog and MySpace postings are good calls (seems like lupefiasco.com is supposed to have a blog, but it’s out of commission at the mo); however, it seems that videos are the fastest things to go viral these days. Wondering if an impassioned plea from an educator making the rounds on YouTube could get picked up by local media, then on to Lupe’s people?
Normally, I’m too cynical to believe it would work, but I’m going to allow myself this one. Good luck - I’ll be following along to see what happens.
April 13th, 2008 at 11:09 am
My husband also plagerized, once, in Junior high. His teacher told him that he was very impressed with his writing skills and how they had improved dramatically over the year. The teacher told my husband that he now expected his work to always be up to the level of this new work. My husband is sure, in retrospect, that the teacher knew he had stolen the piece. But because of the teacher’s new higher expectation my husband worked very hard on his writing skills from then on and has been paid for writing most of his life.