(Knocking)
Come In.
Hi, Mrs. Hudson, Hi.
How You Doing?
All Right.
Listen, I Think I Might Have Made A Breakthrough.
As Long As It's Not A Breakdown.
What's This Regarding?
I Think One Of My Students Might Be Dyslexic.
Isn't That Great?
No. That's A Problem.
You Don't Understand.
The Great Part Is Once It's Diagnosed, We Can Help.
Helping I Can Get Excited About.
What Have You Got?
I Noticed In One Of My Students
That This Student Had Similar Symptoms To Mine
When I Was Diagnosed.
Poor Organizational Skills, Illegible Handwriting
And He Made Reading Mistakes
That Were Characteristic Of A Dyslexic.
That's What Sealed It For Me.
That's Very Perceptive Of You, Theo.
It's All In The Line Of Duty, Mrs. Hudson.
Now, Which One Of Your Students Is Having These Troubles?
I Can't Tell You That.
I Beg Your Pardon.
No Disrespect, Mrs. Hudson.
It's Just That I Promised Him... Or Her
That I Would Keep It Strictly Between Me And Him...
Or Me And Her.
Well, You All Made A Bad Deal.
This Boy... Or Girl May Or May Not Be Dyslexic
But In Order To Find Out, He Or She Needs To Be Tested.
So Your First Assignment
Is To Go To This Person And Tell Him Or Her
That It's The Policy Of This Center
That All Of Us Help Him Or Her.
I Understand.
Thank You For Understanding.
And While You're At It, You Can Tell Stanley
We're All Behind Him.
I Think I Know Why You Might Not Be Getting Good Grades.
Yeah, So Do I.
Because Leticia Won't Let Me See Her Test Paper.
Stanley, That's Called Cheating.
You Can't Always Count On Leticia.
Now, I've Been Thinking.
The Reason Why You're Not Getting Good Grades
Is Because You May Have What's Called Dyslexia.
Ain't Nothing Wrong With Me.
I Feel Good.
No...
No, You See, It's Not A Disease.
It's A Different Way Of Learning.
I Have It.
So It's Not Bad.
You Might Not Have It
But The Best Thing To Do Is To Take Some Tests
Just To Make Sure.
I Ain't Taking No Tests.
You Want To Put Me
In A Special Class For Dumb People.
No, Stan, That's Not It.
People May Call You Dumb.
You May Call Yourself Dumb, But You're Not Dumb.
I'm Not Dumb.
We Just Learn Differently.
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa.
Theo, Speak For Yourself, Man.
I'm Not Different.
I'm Just Like Everybody Else.
All Right, Guys, Guys.
Guys, Guys, Come On, Come On.
Sit Down.
Settle Down.
Get Your Books Out.
You Know The Rules.
Homework First, Then Recreation.
So Come On, Guys, Let's Go.
Yo, Theo.
Eugene, Group Just Started.
Don't Tell Me You Got To Go To The Bathroom Already.
No, Man, This Is About Homework.
Okay, What Is It?
In Social Studies, We're Learning About The Government.
We're A Democracy, Right?
Yeah, That's Right.
We Are A Democracy.
And Democracy Means One Man, One Vote.
Or In My Case, One Woman, One Vote.
Right, Theo?
Yeah, That's Right, Leticia.
And In America, It's Our Duty To Vote For The Things You Want.
And Majority Wins. Right, Theo?
Guys, Come On, What's The Point?
The Point Is
As Americans, I Say We Vote On What We Do First--
Recreation Or Homework.
No, There's A Hole In That Theory.
I Second That.
Let's Vote Then.
All In Favor Of Recreation First
Raise Their Hands.
All In Favor Of Homework First, Raise Their Hands.
(Laughter)
Hey, Theo, My Man, I'm Afraid You've Been Outvoted.
Not Really, Carlos.
You See, While It's True That America Is A Democracy
Once You Enter Those Doors, You're In Theoland.
Now For Those Of You Who Don't Know
Theoland Is A Benevolent Dictatorship
Run By
Yours Truly, Emperor Theo The Good.
Actually, This Vote Is The Only One That Really Counts.
Now Let's Get To That Homework.
I Finished My Homework.
I Did It In School.
Good. I'll Check It Later.
You Can, But It's Perfect.
Good.
Do You Like Mexican Food?
It's Okay.
I Love Mexican Food.
What About Horror Movies?
Leticia...
I Hate Horror Movies.
I Think They're For Kids.
Uh...
Leticia
You Want To Do Me A Favor?
Sure.
Since You And Stanley Are In The Same Class
Why Don't You Work On Your Homework Together.
With Stanley?
Leticia, I Would Really Appreciate It.
Okay, For You.
Thank You.
Let's Go.
What Are You Doing?
Theo Wants Us To Go Over Our Homework Together
So You Better Not Fool Around.
Excuse Me?
Yo, Theo, What's The Big Idea
Of Sending This Girl To Boss Me Around?
Leticia's Not There To Boss You Around.
Then Tell Her That.
Look At It This Way.
If You Guys Work Together, You Get Done Sooner
And Have More Time To Play Basketball.
Okay, That Will Work.
But She Better Not Slow Me Down.
Not Bad, Carol.
Keep Up The Good Work.
Yo, Rahim, Man, What's Up?
Nothing.
You've Been On The Same Page For The Past Hour.
Oh, Okay, I See.
This Is Some High-Tech Reading Method.
The Words Float Off The Page Into Your Brain.
Since When Are You Checking On My Pages?
You On Commission?
Rahim, I'm Just Doing My Job.
Part Of My Job Is To Make Sure You Do Your Homework.
I Don't Know Why I'm Doing Homework.
I'm Going To Be A Fireman.
This Book Ain't Going To Show Me
How To Spray Water.
Rahim, You Know The Rules, Man.
You Don't Do Your Homework, You Can't Go Play Basketball.
I Don't Care.
I'm Retiring My Sneakers.
You Shouldn't Retire Those Wasted Sneakers.
They Should Be Condemned.
That Was Good, Man.
Excuse Me
I'm Having A Conversation With My Man Here.
Nobody Asked For Your Mouth
To Get Into It.
Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Come On, Come On.
Cool Out, You Guys.
Leave Him Alone, Carlos.
He's Upset Because His Father Got Fired.
My Father Did Not Get Fired.
He Got Laid Off Like A Bunch Of Other People.
Yo, Guys, It's Rec Time, All Right?
Put Your Books Away.
Go Play Ball.
Yo, Rahim, Hang On For A Second, Man.
Yo, Come On, Let's Rap.
Have A Seat.
You Want To Talk About It?
What's To Talk About?
They Laid Off Half My Father's Shift At The Paper Company.
I'm Sorry To Hear That.
Let's Just Hope
It's Temporary.
I Hope So Too.
In The Meantime, I Won't Be Coming To The Center.
Why Not?
'Cause I'm The Oldest.
I Got To Make Some Money.
After School I'll Be Delivering Groceries.
After This Week
I'm Out Of Here.
Peace, Mr. Huxtable.
(Laughing)
The Brown Hornet Is My Favorite Cartoon.
Yeah, He's Funny.
I Wonder Where The People Go
When You Turn The Tv Off.
They're In There.
If They're In There, They Awfully Quiet.
What's The Matter With The Tv?
Nothing. Olivia Says The People Live In The Tv
But I Don't Believe It.
Dr. Huxtable, Tell Him.
Well, People Really Don't Live In The Tv Set.
That's What You Said.
I Know, But You Were Asking Me That Question
During The Time Of The Super Bowl.
Oh. So You Was Fooling Me.
Well, See, What I Was Going To Do Was
I Was Going To Explain It To You Later
When You Get Older.
Well, I'm Older.
Uh... See, The Way It Really Works--
If You Want To Know Now--
Is That People Have A Camera And They Shoot A Picture
Of All These People, See
And Then They Send A Signal Through The Air, See
And The Aerial Is Up On Top Of The House
And That Picks Up The Signal
And Then It Zaps It Into The Tv Set, You See
And That's The Scientific Explanation Of How...
How Tv Works.
Hold On.
Where Do The People Come In?
And Who Gives Them The Signal?
There's A, Uh...
There's A Little Man
And He's About This Big, In The Tv
And The People Are All In There
And They're Running Around And He's In Charge.
So, Let's Say You Have It On Four.
He Won't Let Anybody Else In On Four.
Because He Stops All The Fives And Sevens.
He Says, "You All Have To Wait
Until They Switch To You."
How Does The Signal Man Live In There?
Well, He Eats Whatever The Commercials Have.
Cliff, What Are You Doing?
I'm Getting A Headache Is What I'm Doing.
I'm Trying To Give Them A Scientific Explanation
Of How Tv Works.
That's Very Interesting.
Maybe You'd Like To Explain How The Radio Works Too.
Yeah. Come On.
And Explain How The Record Player Works.
All Right!
Yeah. How Come Those Singers Don't Get Dizzy
When The Record Spins Around?
(Laughing)
It's Not Food Poisoning.
How's Everything Going?
(Whispering:) Do You Mind If I Have A Piece Of Your Pie?
Thank You.
Yo, Dad, That's My Pie, Man.
You Said I Could Have It.
Good Pie Too.
Working Kind Of Hard, Huh?
Oh, Boy, Yeah.
Working Real Hard.
You Look It.
I Have This One Student, Dad
Who I Think May Be Dyslexic
But He's Hiding It
And He Won't Let Me Or Anybody Else Help Him.
I Got Another Guy
Whose Father Lost His Job.
So Now This Kid Has Got To Quit The After-School Program
To Get A Job To Help His Family.
Dad, The Kid Is In Seventh Grade.
He Wants To Be
At The Community Center.
That Little Boy Needs To Be There
At The Community Center.
I Saw One Of My Students In The Hallway.
She Was Zipping Up Her Backpack.
Her Backpack Was Full And Her Books Were In Her Hands
So Of Course She Looked Suspicious.
So I Said, "What's In The Bag?"
So She Gets An Attitude With Me
And She Slams The Bag Down On The Floor.
You Know, Every Day We Get These Lunches--
These Box Lunches--
With Apples, Carrots, Sandwiches, Milk... You Know.
This One Girl
Everyday She Volunteers To Collect The Garbage
And Then She Goes Out In The Hallway.
So, Of Course I'm Thinking
She's Separating The Stuff For Recycling.
Dad, She Opened The Backpack
And There Was All This Food.
She Told Me That She Takes The Food Home
To Feed Her Family.
These Kids Are Draining Me.
You're Drained. You're Drained.
And You're Fatigued.
But It's A Good Fatigue.
You're Going To Go To Sleep Tired
But You're Going To Wake Up Crisp And Ready To Go.
You're Right.
Hey, Stanley, You're Early.
Yeah, I Know I'm Early.
You Still Have Time To Play Basketball.
Nah. I Decided To Pass On Basketball.
All Right.
Hey, How Come You Got All Those Notebooks?
One Is For Each Subject I'm Studying
And They're Organized Into Sections
To Help Me Understand Better.
Man, Who Wants All Those Notebooks And Stuff?
Well, I Do.
If I Didn't Study In An Organized Way
I Wouldn't Be In College.
Did You Want To Talk To Me About Something?
No.
All Right.
Let Me Ask You A Question.
What Is This?
I Don't Know.
That's Because Right Now, It's Nothing.
You Recognize This Now?
Yeah, It's A Bicycle.
When Someone Put Schoolwork In Front Of Me
I Used To Read It, Speak It, And Spell It This Way.
That's What Dyslexia Is About.
All My Life I Felt Like I Was Walking In A Basement
And Everybody Had The Light On But Me.
I Had A Little Flashlight.
I Could See This, A Little Of That
But I Could Never See The Whole Room.
You're Walking Through Life With A Flashlight
And You Don't Have To.
There's Nothing To The Tests--
No Needles Or Nothing.
All You Do Is Talk To A Few People
You Play A Few Games.
Actually, Some Of It Is Fun.
Look, Man, It Helped Me.
But You're Different, Man.
Forget It, Stanley.
All Right?
Forget I Ever Mentioned Anything About It.
This Was You?
Yeah. That Was Me.
And This Is You After All The Work?
Yup, Except That Now, My Bike's A Ten-Speed.
Okay, You Want Me To Take The Test, I Will
But It Better Be A Ten-Speed.
You're Taking This Test
As A Favor To Me?
Why Not? You're Cool.
Well, Stanley, I Didn't Know You Were So Thoughtful, Man.
Hey, Man, I Try.
What We Draw Is Going To Be Part
Of The State Exhibition, Right?
Yeah, That's Right.
Look At My Picture.
That's Very Nice, Leticia
But Who Are The Two People Holding Hands?
That's You And Your Girlfriend.
You Know, Leticia
That Girl Holding Hands With Theo Looks Like You.
That's Not Me.
I Don't Have Green Hair.
That's Me Up In The Corner.
Who Are You Holding Hands With?
That's Stanley.
(Laughing)
Theo!
All Right, You Rembrandts.
Leave Your Paintings On The Desks.
I'll Collect Them.
Finish Them Tomorrow.
Have A Good One.
Are You Going To Go And Play Basketball, Stanley?
Yeah.
I Think I'll Watch.
This Is My Last Day, Theo.
See You Around.
Yeah.
Going To Miss You, Man.
Yeah, I Guess You Will.
I Don't Have Anybody To Keep Me In Line Now.
You're Doing Fine.
Don't Look So Sad.
As Soon As My Father Lands A Job
I'll Be Right Back.
I'll Save A Seat For You.
I Don't Want That Seat.
I Want To Sit Next To That Girl Carol.
I Think She Likes Me.
You Got It.
Later.
I Know It's Tough When You Lose A Kid
And You Can't Do Anything About It.
When I Got This Job, All I Saw Was Me Helping Kids.
I Never Thought About The Kids I Couldn't Help.
There's Nothing You Can Do About The Kids You Lose
Except To Know That You Didn't Lose Them
As Long As You Do Your Best.
And I Know You're Doing That.
Thank You, Mrs. Hudson.
Thank You.
Oh, But, Uh, You're Not There Yet.
Oh, I Know.
Believe Me, I Know That.
But I'm Growing.