Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411280066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
Teachers at the Bridge School call him ``Einstein.''
"Here, he can be himself," said Gary Lowry, the school's coordinator. Troy now tutors younger and older students, some in difficult subjects such as algebra. He couldn't do that in regular school, his teachers agree.
"Each one of these kids have a gift. You just have to find out what it is," Lowry said.
Part of that search takes place in freewheeling rap sessions held with students a few times each week. During these talks, which can last as little as 15 minutes or as long as an hour and a half, students can talk about whatever they want, using whatever language they want. Sometimes scary and frequently graphic, the talks give instructors insight into the problems plaguing some of their students.
"To some, it's the only freedom they have. We hold nothing against them in discussion. I will not judge them," Lowry said.
Sometimes, discussion is shallow, talking about a television show or music performer. Other times, such as last year when a student died, the talks can be profoundly moving.
"That bothered a lot of them because young people don't think they'll die," the coordinator said. "They live every day thinking they're invincible, and when something like that happens, it throws them for a loop."
The talks also give Lowry a chance to teach the students common-sense lessons about life.
"Most of y'all are suckers," he says to the class at large. "People at fast-food places take one look at you with your big baggy pants and your bandanas on your heads and they say, 'I'll cheat them out of 25 cents.' And you know what? They will!
"And when they do cheat you, what do you do? Cuss them out? Who do you think the manager's going to believe? Not you."
It's a tough audience. When Lowry brings up Troy in discussion, he asks the class, "This kid, you like him, he helps you with your schoolwork, but how many of you would hang out with him at regular school?"
"I would," a student answers, "because he could probably figure out how to rob a bank."
One of the older students, Ronnie, 15, hasn't been in a regular classroom since the beginning of the last school year. He'll probably finish his high school career at the Bridge School.
Ronnie was arrested last year when he stole a car to pick up a girl for a date. He idolizes "gangsta" rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg.
"He thinks rappers do the things they rap about," said DeFraunce Lewis, an instructor at the school. "He wants to be a gangster. The kid actually thinks Snoop Doggy Dogg runs down the street and kills people and nothing happens to him."
Another, Ricky, a tall, thin youth, tells Lowry point-blank, "I'd take you out first if I had a gun."
Nick, 16 and in 10th grade, spent two years in a juvenile detention center for car theft, grand larceny and gun charges. He spent the next two months at the Bridge School. He was released for good behavior but chose to come back.
"They treat me with respect here; and if I've got a problem, they won't jump to conclusions before they hear the whole story."
In discussion, the students talk about violent home lives, running from authorities or being shot at.
"I won't hit my mom," Nick said. "I respect her. But I hit my stepdad with quickness. I swole his eye shut."
Some of what Lowry says does get through. The students trust him. When Ronnie was missing for a couple of days and on the run from police, he didn't call his family for help; he called Lowry.
Lowry tries to make his students think about the consequences of their actions. He makes all of the 10-, 11-, 12- and 13-year-old kids stand up.
"Y'all used to be just like these kids," he says to the older students.
"I was a good little kid. I didn't start getting in trouble until I was 11," one shot back at him.
"Well," Lowry said, "what y'all are teaching these younger kids right now will come back to haunt you."
by CNB