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Kaddeem Wright enjoys reading philosophy and arguing with his friends about history and politics. With his smarts and innate curiosity about the world, Kaddeem seems like a kid who should thrive in school, but he's not. Instead he feels unmotivated and rarely does his homework. He scrapes by with a C average, something that frustrates him and his mom. Like a lot of kids, especially young black males in New York City, Kaddeem is not reaching his potential. He wants to know to why he and so many of his friends are barely getting by, uninspired by school or thoughts of the future.
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Piece Description
Kaddeem Wright enjoys reading philosophy and arguing with his friends about history and politics. With his smarts and innate curiosity about the world, Kaddeem seems like a kid who should thrive in school, but he's not. Instead he feels unmotivated and rarely does his homework. He scrapes by with a C average, something that frustrates him and his mom. Like a lot of kids, especially young black males in New York City, Kaddeem is not reaching his potential. He wants to know to why he and so many of his friends are barely getting by, uninspired by school or thoughts of the future.
Broadcast History
WNYC Morning Edition - December 15, 2008
Transcript
HOST INTRO: With New Year's just a couple of weeks away, you may be thinking about resolutions for 2009. Perhaps you're considering one from years' past that you still haven't been able to fully tackle...Most of us have some area of our lives we've been struggling to fix for a long time: Making lasting changes can be tough. Radio Rookie Kaddeem Wright has been resolving to do better in school, but over and over again he keeps finding himself stuck:
NARRATION: Have you ever had an epiphany like Buddha sitting under the tree? Like Mohamed meditating on the mountain? Well, my epiphany came about in my 5th grade class. I was day dreaming and I realized: I have potential to do great things. My teacher thought I was smart. And ever since then, I've been hearing that over:
ADULT 1: Like I always tell your mother, you are one in a million.
NARRATION: And over.
ADULT 2: Smart.
ADULT 3: I thi...
Read the full transcript
Additional Credits
Sanda Htyte, Associate Producer
Courtney Stein, Assistant Producer
Marianne McCune, Editor
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jocelyn rivera
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 03:30 PM | Permalink
hi =)
I found this piece to be interesting mainly because i don't usually hear guys admitting when they are not on top of there school work guys i know usually blow it off an move along they dont take the time out to try and figure out what exactly the problem really is , like kaddem did
what struck me most about the piece (interestingly enough thats the title) was that kaddem seems so driven
hes dont seem to have the same goals as most guys my age which is to become a rapper or a athlete he's more into philosophy i dont really hear that often
another thing that stood out to me in this piece was that he showed other boys his ages point of view of the situation an how they are just like him in the sense that they are just ver lazy . I think that in some aspects it comes down to the community in which the indiviual lives in i think that could change the out come of the persons school intrest