Word: bianca
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Sherri worries about what is ahead for Bianca. "Young men today have garbage on their minds." She says. "If they take you to Burger King, they think they can sleep with you. I tell Bianca, 'Don't wrestle with these little boys. They want to touch you in the wrong areas. You don't want them up close, period...
...Bianca's classmates say they want to be engineers, teachers, scientists, nurses, football players, policemen. A fourth-grader named Erica writes in her journal, "When I grow up I will get married and be an engineer because I have to study some science and math and be a doctor or a teacher and for my children to have school and clothes and food and strong and healthy...
Other journal entries are less encouraging. Cynthia, a former foster child who sits in front of Bianca in class, once wrote, "I would like a magic ring that do anything I said and I would want my baby doll to be a real baby." The teacher wrote back, asking her, "How would you take care of a real baby and still go to school?" She answered, "I have a mom, you know." To this, the teacher replied in her red ink, "This isn't your mom's baby. Why should she take care of it?" No reply...
Students in nearly three-quarters of the New Orleans elementary schools, including Frantz, rank below the 50th percentile on national reading tests. Without mastering the ability to read, kids like Bianca will find it impossible to realize their dreams. Bianca, who reads a bit above her grade ; level, keeps what she calls a "literature book" at Leonard's house. Her grandmother gave it to her. She reads it by herself. "I keep it in the back room," she says. "It has lots of stories in it by different authors...
Talking recently with a friend about what lies ahead for Bianca -- menstruation and other bodily changes, dating -- Sherri suddenly realized that when her daughter is 15 she will be only 31. "I told my friend, I don't know if I'll be ready for it," says Sherri. "I'm young myself. And my friend says, 'You'd better be ready...