Dad?
Yeah, Pud?
I Can't Go
To Amy's Party.
Why Not?
One Of My Ears Is Bigger
Than The Other One.
Which One?
This One.
Compared To The Other, This Is Huge.
Yeah, It Is Just A Smidgen Bit Bigger, That's All.
I Knew It!
The Body Isn't Perfectly Symmetrical.
Some People Have The Right Leg Longer Than The Left Leg
Or Right Arm Longer Than The Left Arm.
I Look At You
And I Can't Tell The Difference.
That's Because You See Me All The Time.
When Someone Else Meets Me, They Will Say
"Who's That Girl With One Big Ear?"
I Can't Go To Amy's Party.
People Will Stare At Me.
If You're Worried About It, There Are Things You Can Do.
You Can Get A Beret.
Pull The Beret
Over To One Ear.
Or You Could Take This Hand And Be Very Intellectual.
This Is A Serious Problem.
Can You Please Act Like An Adult?
Okay.
As An Adult, I Will Tell You
That I Don't See The Difference.
And As An Adult, I Will Also Tell You
That What You Are
Is More Important Than What Your Ears Look Like.
My Face Is Not Perfectly Symmetrical.
You See?
Whoa, Dad, You're Right!
What?
Nothing.
You See Something.
What Is It?
Oh, Nothing.
Hey.
What Are You Looking At?
Look At My Face.
Is My Face Perfectly Handsome?
Oh, Absolutely.
Oh, Thank You.
Let Me Ask You A Question.
Let's Say You Didn't Know Me
And You Were In The Supermarket
And I Was In The Supermarket
And I Saw You And You Saw Me.
Would You Come Over To Me
And Say...
You Know... Things?
Why?
I Wouldn't Walk Up To Some Strange Man
And Start Talking.
Okay, Okay, Okay, Okay.
So That's Right, Absolutely.
So Let's Say You're Over At The Thing
And I Push My Cart And Rub Up Against Your Cart.
What Would You
Say To Me?
I Would Say That The Supermarket Is The Place To Meet You
Because You're Fresh And... Ripe.
Then Would You...
Take Me Home And Squeeze Me?
Rebecca Shorter Might Be A Good Schoolteacher
But She Has No Idea What She's Talking About.
Who Is Rebecca Shorter?
She's A Friend Who Teaches Elementary School.
She Said Medgar Evers College
Would Be The Perfect School
For Me To Get My Teaching Degree.
So I Forget About Columbia, I Drop Everything
And These People At This School
Act Like They Don't Want Students.
I Go To Sign Up For Classes
And They Want To See
My Hillman Transcript.
These People
Will Only Give Me Credit For One Course.
Which One?
Archery.
It Had To Be Archery.
I Passed A Lot Of Courses At Hillman.
But At Medgar Evers
They Tell Me That If You Transfer From Another School
They Can't Accept Any Grade Lower Than A "C."
That's Totally Unfair!
I Mean, What Is A "D"?
A "D" Is 70%.
If I Had 70% Of A Pie...
I Mean, That's A Lot Of Pie!
May I See The Transcript, Please?
Dad, It Hasn't Changed Since The Last Time You Saw It.
I'm Sorry.
I Was Just Hoping.
One "C," Five D's, And Seven I's For Incomplete
And The "C" Was In Archery.
I Tried To Talk Them Into Giving Me More Credits
For Life Experience.
Life Experience?
Yes, Life Experience.
I Did Go To Africa For A Year As A Photographer's Assistant.
That Should Count For Something.
And I'm Raising A Child.
That Is A Big Deal.
Marriage-- That Is A Tremendous Life Experience.
And I'm Living At Home With My Parents.
You Want Credit For That?
Absolutely!
I Am Observing Domestic Relationships.
People Study That In College.
I'll Tell You Something Else.
I Should Get Credit For Failing College
And Wanting To Go Back.
Let's Backtrack.
As I Recall
You Marched Into This Living Room One Day
And Informed Us That You Were Going To Become A Teacher
As A Result Of A Conversation You Had With Olivia's Mother.
Yes.
Not Only Do You Want To Teach
But You Want To Teach Children With Learning Problems.
Life Experience Is Good
But These People Don't Need Somebody
With Life Experience Only.
They Need Someone With Special Skills.
I Can't Talk About This Anymore.
I Have To Pick Up Olivia At Her Preschool.
But It Is Totally Unfair For Someone
Who Has Spent Three Semesters In College
To Have To Start Over Again.
Don't They Know I Want To Be A Teacher?
I'm Enthusiastic.
But Do They Care?
No, All They Care About Are C's.
There Are Hundreds Of Children Who Need A Good Teacher.
And Now They're Not Going To Get One.
Is Anyone Thinking...
About The Children?
No, All They're Thinking About Is What I Once Was
Not What I Am Now.
And I Should Be Given Credit For That.
I'll See You Guys Later.
Good Lord.
♪ One Times Two Is Two ♪
♪ You Got That? ♪
♪ One Times Three Is Three ♪
♪ One Times Four Is Four ♪
♪ Now You Rap, Come On, Let's Go ♪
♪ One Times Five Is Five ♪
♪ One Times Six Is Six ♪
♪ One Times Seven Is Seven ♪
♪ Oh, Thank Heaven ♪
♪ One Times Eight Is Eight ♪
♪ You Got It ♪
♪ One Times Nine Is Nine ♪
♪ One Times Ten Is... ♪
♪ Ten! ♪
♪ One Times Eleven Is... ♪
♪ Eleven! ♪
♪ And One Times Twelve Is Twelve ♪
♪ All Right ♪
♪ Let's Do It ♪
♪ Rap The Facts ♪
♪ One More Time ♪
♪ Rap The Facts. ♪
All Right!
That's All
We Have Time For Today, Boys And Girls.
Tomorrow We Do The Twos.
Denise: That Was Great.
Hey!
Do You Hear Me Multiplying?
I Sure Did.
You Have To Meet Uncle Wilton.
Uncle Wilton, This Is My Stepmom, Denise.
Hello, Denise.
I Don't Know What To Call You.
Uncle Wilton Is Fine.
That Was Amazing
Seeing These Kids Enjoy Math.
If You Make It Fun, They Learn.
Right, Olivia?
♪ One Times One Is One ♪
♪ One Times Two Is Two ♪
Got That?
Come On, Denise!
♪ One Times Three Is Three ♪
♪ One Times Four... ♪
Hey.
How Was Preschool Today?
Mom, Life Is So Funny.
I Left Here Negative And Angry.
Who Would Have Thought Olivia's Preschool
Would Have Changed My Life?
I Don't Know
But With You, Anything Is Possible.
Mom, I'm Going To Be A Teacher!
Again?
I'm Glad To Hear That.
Going To College, Huh?
Today, I Witnessed
An Alternative To Traditional Education.
Olivia, Hit It.
♪ One Times One Is One ♪
♪ One Times Two Is Two ♪
♪ One Times Three Is Three ♪
♪One Times Four Is Four ♪
♪ One Times Five Is Five... ♪
Okay, Honey.
See, She Doesn't
Want To Stop.
Now That's Learning.
I'm Impressed.
Can I Have An Orange?
Sure.
♪ One Times Five Is Five ♪
♪ One Times Six Is Six... ♪
Now You Know Why I Don't Have To Go To College.
This Is The Kind Of Teaching I Want To Do.
A Man At Her Preschool Teaches Multiplication By Using Rap.
These Children Are Eager To Learn.
I'm Sure You're Right.
I Don't Have To Work Within The System.
I Could Just Get Up There And Do It.
There Is No Shortcut To Becoming A Teacher.
Sooner Or Later, You're Going To Have To Go To College.
Mom, You're Like A Bucket Of Cold Water.
Every Time I Come To You
With Enthusiasm
You Dump It On Me.
Anything Worth Having Is Worth Working For.
There's No Easy Way.
I'm Not Looking For An Easy Way.
I'm Willing
To Pay My Dues--
Work 18 Hours A Day For Little Money.
You Do Not Understand.
Paying Dues Is What You Do After You Spend Years In School
Training To Work 18 Hours A Day For Little Or Nothing
Hoping To Get A Chance To Do What You Want To Do.
That Is Paying Dues.
You See?
More Cold Water. More Cold Water.
I Should Just Do What I Want
And Stop Telling You Guys What It Is
I'm Going To Do.
Maybe When We Were Making The Decision To Have That Child
Somebody Should Have Poured Some Cold Water On Cliff.
♪ One Times Eleven Is Eleven ♪
♪ One Times Twelve Is Twelve. ♪
Anyway, You've Got It.
Right, I Got It.
They Were Having So Much Fun.
I'm In Favor Of Anything That Helps Children Learn.
You Want Some Juice?
Yeah, Apple.
I Can't Help Think
If Someone Had Made Learning That Exciting For Me
I Probably Wouldn't Have Dropped Out Of College.
If Your College Courses Were All In Rap
You Would Have Stayed In?
No, I'm Saying If Someone Had Made Learning Exciting
I Might Not Have Lost My Enthusiasm.
I Think This Method Could Work In The Classroom
With Every Subject.
You Do?
Yeah, Like, English, History.
I Wrote One For History.
You Have To Hear This.
♪ Columbus Sailed The Ocean Blue ♪
♪ In Fourteen Hundred And Ninety-Two ♪
♪ When He Got To The Shore, He Said ♪
♪ "Let's Dock On The Place They Call Plymouth Rock. ♪
Thank You Very Much.
Denise, Columbus Sailed To The Caribbean In 1492.
The Pilgrims Landed On Plymouth Rock In 1620.
I Am Grateful To Sesame Street And Mr. Rogers
And All The Television Shows That Use Music And Animation
To Dazzle Children Into Learning
But It Won't Work For Me.
I Don't Sing And Dance.
But I Teach In The Real World.
I Do It Because I Love Teaching And I Love Children.
I Love Children, Too.
My Dream Is To Work With Children
With Learning Disabilities
I Think Uncle Wilton's Method Will Work With Them.
I Don't Need College To Do That.
And I Want To Go Down There
And Tell Uncle Wilton I Want To Be His Apprentice.
That's What You Want...
That's What I Want
And I Want You To Come Down To The Center
And See His Technique.
Okay, I'm Open.
Maybe Once You've Learned This Technique Of Uncle Wilton's
You Can Come In And Give An Assembly.
I'd Love To.
Yeah, But Not On Christopher Columbus.
We Can Be Anything
We Want To Be.
We Can Be A Square.
(Drums Playing)
Good Square.
And We Can Be A Triangle.
(Drums Playing)
Good-- Good Triangle.
Or We Can Be The Letter "T."
(Drums Playing)
Great "T."
We Can Also Be The Letter "I."
Oop, Forgot To Dot It.
Good "I."
That's All For Today, Boys And Girls.
See You Tomorrow.
Dr. Gordon?
Let's Go, Everybody.
We're Going To The Film Library
To Look At Some Dinosaurs And Pterodactyls.
Hey.
Way To Dot The "I."
I Know What I'm Doing.
See You Later, Denise.
I'm Going To See Pterodactyls.
Okay, Bye.
Bye-Bye.
Excuse Me, Uncle Wilton?
Yes.
Hi. This Is My Friend Rebecca Shorter.
She's A Fifth-Grade Teacher.
Hi. I Like What You're Doing.
Um, Uncle Wilton
I Know I've Only Seen Your Class Twice
But I Want You To Know That I've Really Been Affected By It.
I'd Like To Study With You And Gordon
And Learn Your Techniques
And Pass Them On To Other Children.
Where Did You Go To College?
Hillman.
Did You Get Your Bachelor's Or Your Master's Degree?
Oh... Uh, Actually, I Don't... I Don't Have Either.
I Suggest You Go Back To College, Get Your Degree
Come Back To See Us.
We'd Love To Have You.
I Need A Degree To Play The Drums And Rap To Children?
Understand, We Don't Teach Everything Through Music.
So You Use Traditional Teaching Methods Also?
Absolutely.
The Music Reinforces
What You've Already Taught The Children.
You've Got It.
I'd Be A Great Instructor.
I'm Enthusiastic.
I Love To Learn.
I'm Fired Up.
All That's Good.
But To Work With Us, You Must Have A College Degree.
Excuse Me, Ladies.
Gosh, All I Want To Do Is Help Children
And No One Will Let Me.
Why Are You So Hardheaded?
The Man Didn't Say That.
He Said You Have To Get An Education
To Be Of Help Here.
I Am Ready Now
If Uncle Wilton Would Work With Me.
Uncle Wilton Has Enough Children To Work With.
He Doesn't Need One
As Old As You.
Why Don't You Want To Go To College?
Why Are You Afraid To Go To College?
Because I Am Ready Now.
You Want To Learn On The Job?
Okay, You Are In Uncle Wilton's Classroom
And I Am Rebecca Shorter And I Am Four Years Old
And I Am One Of Your Students.
Come On, I'm Hungry.
Let's Just Go.
Why Do You Always Want To Quit?
You Want To Be A Teacher, Right?
Yes.
Well, Then Let's Go.
No, Give Me A Break.
(Mimicking A Child:) Come On, Mrs. Kendall
I Want To Learn Something.
Teach Me.
Okay.
Rebecca.
Today We Are Going To Learn Our Multiplication Tables.
Please Repeat After Me.
♪ One Times One Is One ♪
♪ Two Times One Is Two ♪
♪ One Times Three Is Three ♪
Hello?
You're Not Repeating.
I Don't Want To Rap.
Well, Sure You Do.
Come On, All Kids Love To Rap.
Not Me.
Okay, Then What Would You Like To Do?
I Want To Paint.
Great, Let's Go Paint.
No.
Okay.
Uh, Hey, Let's... Let's Read A Book!
Yeah.
No, I Want To Do What I Want To Do.
I Don't Want To Read No Stupid Book.
What Will You Do When The Other Children Learn This
And You Don't?
I Don't Care.
The Other Kids
Won't Think You're As Smart As They Are.
I'm Telling My Mama You Called Me Dumb.
I Didn't Call You Dumb.
You Going To Get Fired.
Calm Down.
I Didn't Say That You Were Dumb.
I Said The Other Kids
Won't Think You're As Smart As They Are.
'Cause I'm Dumb.
Okay.
Okay, You've Made Your Point.
Come Here.
What Was I Supposed To Do?
Well, You Know
I'd Explain It To You, But It's Kind Of Technical
And You Don't Have A College Degree.
Cliff?
Hmm?
Have You Seen Denise?
Uh-Uh.
She Said She Was Going Out For A Walk.
I'm Concerned About Her.
She's Been Depressed These Past Couple Of Days.
I Don't Think She's Gotten Over
Being Turned Down By Uncle Wilton.
Hi, Denise.
Where Have You Been?
Oh, Just Walking.
And Thinking.
Walking And Thinking.
Is Everything All Right?
Mom, Dad, I've Made A Decision.
♪ Well, I Had A Little Talk With Jesus ♪
I've Been Thinking...
♪ And I Told Him All About Our Troubles ♪
What's Wrong With Spending The Rest Of My Life
As A Wife And A Mother?
Millions Of Women All Around The World Do It
And Are Content And Happy.
They Think It's A Very Noble And Honorable Profession.
I Agree With You.
I Hope You're Not Just Saying That
Because You're Giving Up On Some Other Dreams.
Well, Mom, I Know You Would Have Liked Me To Go Back To College
And Become A Teacher, But I Don't Think It's For Me.
Whatever You Decide, We're Behind You.
You're Not Upset That I'm Not Going Back To School?
I Didn't Say That.
All I Said Was, "We Are Behind You."
Okay, That's Good Enough For Me.
Thanks For Your Support.
Oh, Um, Mom, I, Uh, I Forgot To Show You This.
Thanks, Honey.
Denise, This Says You're Entering Medgar Evers College
This Summer As A Freshman?
(Squealing)
Gothca!
♪ Gotcha! ♪
And A Good Gotcha At That!
Left Them Barefooted And Openmouthed.
Beautiful.
I Am So Good.
♪ And He'll Answer By And By. ♪