Class Report Jan. 5th 2010: Two Priceless Quotes From a Second Grade Student

Nikki, my 7 year old female student, was in ultra rare form this morning. It was hard for me to get her to quiet down. However, in all the verbal debris there were some gems to salvage. The first one was a bit scary. Nikki was talking about her dead grandmother when all of a sudden she covered her mouth, her eyes got wide as saucers, and she shuddered. When I asked her what was wrong she replied, "if I talk about granny she will haunt me." Nikki has told me of paranormal activity in her house. For example, she says that sometimes her bed lifts off the ground or it just shakes, she sees apparitions walking about in her house including her granny, she hears people talking in the house when everyone is asleep, and the Television sometimes has red eyes and talks to her. Valueless tales of a emotionally challenged little girl? Or are these accounts true and the reason that she is emotionally disabled?
The second one is a humorous one. She simply said that all white kids do not have brothers or sisters. Kids raised in all black communities sometimes think of white kids as fantastically over-privileged. My students are constantly asking me questions about white people as if white people are things they have heard about but never actually seen. Although they don't consider me white, they assume I know all about white people. When I ask them what race they think I am, sometimes they say "Teacher", sometimes they say, "Italian" (which is true) - but when they are mad at me they call me "Cracka" or "Mexican."