Teach Me How To Dougie

Danny Rosa

Mariah and Danny with their sweet shades.

I’d always thought that with age and education comes wisdom. In situations where you have a mixture of high school, college and medical students, I would think the flow of knowledge would be unidirectional. But this isn't the case anymore. What I love most about SSP is that I am learning just as much from the high school students as they are from me.I initially entered the program thinking I, and the medical students, would be spending the summer teaching the high school students about community health. But as Dr. Jones kept mentioning during our first week of the program, the high school students are the experts of their neighborhood. They know South Chicago (the South C) so well and I’m always astonished at the level of knowledge they possess about not only the community but also issues facing modern-day America’s teenagers.


It’s easy to get into this “I’m older so you need to pay attention to me because I have more experience” or “I’m a college student so I know more than you” mentality. This mentality becomes ingrained into our heads by, I feel, our education system. In high school we’re all given a set of rules to follow: don’t speak until you’re called; sit up straight; no talking; listen to the teacher; etc. These rules dichotomize teacher and student, relegating the student to a subordinate position. It is in my opinion that these categories and authoritarian teachers do not allow high school students to fully express themselves, and, further, focus more on the teachers’ interest rather than the students. However, every high school student can teach the teacher just as much information as the teachers can to the student, though the topic may be something non-academic
and foreign to the teacher.


I've seen Carl, Octavia and Mariah become animated when they’re asked their views on teen pregnancy, dancing, basketball, and other matters not usually discussed in the classroom. On Tuesday we asked the high school students to all teach us something we, the leadership team, do not know. They chose to teach us some dancing moves. Elise has dancing experience but our kids were knowledgeable about particular moves that Elise, Chris and myself had never encountered. Mariah taught us to Spongebob; Octavia taught us how to dougie; Carl taught us how to cook. I thought the activity would last only a half hour but as soon as we saw how excited and happy they were to show us their expertise, we decided to spend the rest of the day – only an hour total – dancing. Not only did the dancing give us some exercise for the day, it also woke everyone up and truly showed the talents our students have. For so long, they’re told that adults know best and to listen to them so when they’re given the opportunity to show us their voice, they get happy. I feel this is one of SSP’s biggest goals for the summer: to empower high school students to realize their true potential. As the summer progresses, I’m sure our students will continue to grow and become further empowered.