© Money for broken lamp When I was in high school, I think the 10th or 11th grade, I was talking with a classmate, Stacey, she said that she had broken a lamp at home. I felt like I wanted to help her with that. My grandfather gave me checks periodically. And when he did, he would hand it to me discreetly, like from his hand to my pocket very quickly. So, I think I was engaging with that experience in a way. My conversation with Stacey, was about the same time that we had a paper due. So, I gave her an envelope that could fit the paper that she can give to the teacher. But, I put $10 or $20 in the envelope to help her pay for a lamp or get it fixed. But I didn't tell her anything about it. At one point, our teacher called me to meet with her and I think Stacey at the same time. I told them what happened from my perspective. I realized later, that the teacher might have thought that Stacey was trying to bribe her, buy realized she needed to clarify any information.
Added 4/05/17 4:41 pm to 4:46 pm
I think that our teacher handled the situation appropriately. She talked with the people involved and we came to an understanding of what happened, both for the current event and how to relate to possible future events or situations. If, however, some things were different, like my background, ways of being, an increased culture of punitive approaches, such as school resource officers, I could have been punished and maybe set on a course of school to prison pipeline. That could not only destroy my life, but wouldn’t address the root causes and similar situations could happen in the future with me and/or others.