Original subtitles

the music I've never heard.

Dad?

Here, bud.

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 one, this is huge.

Can't you see it? Yeah, it is, but it's just a smidgen bit bigger, that's all.

I knew it. Well, wait a minute, though, honey. The body isn't perfectly

symmetrical.

I mean, some people have the right leg longer than the left leg, a right arm

longer than the left arm, and besides, 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're going to say, Who's that girl with one

ear?

I can't go to Amy's party. People will stare at me. If you're worried about it,

there are certain things you can do. You can go around. You can get a beret.

Pull the beret all the way 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.

Then as an adult, I will tell you that I don't see the difference, okay?

And as an adult, I will also tell you that what you are is more important than

what your two ears look like. Look at my face. My face is not perfectly

symmetrical.

You see?

Whoa, Dad, you're right.

What?

You see something? Say, what is it? Huh?

you looking at look at look at my face is my face uh perfectly handsome oh

absolutely oh thank you yeah but let me ask you a question if let's say you

didn't know me let's say you didn't know me okay and and and you were in the

supermarket and i was in the supermarket and i saw you and you saw me would you

would you come over to me and say you know

Couldn't you just walk up to some strange man in the supermarket and start

talking? Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

So, that's right, absolutely.

Okay, so let's say you're over at the thing, you know, 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 would you take me home and squeeze me?

Hey.

Rebecca Shorter might be a good school teacher, but she has no idea what she's

talking about.

Well, who is Rebecca Shorter?

Rebecca Shorter, she's a friend of mine who teaches elementary school. And she

was telling me that Medgar Evers College would be the perfect school for me to

go to to get my teaching degree and all I needed, blah, blah, blah.

So I forget about Columbia. I drop everything.

And these people at the school act like they don't even want students to enroll

there. I go down to sign up for the fall semester, and they tell me I have to

show them my transcript from Hillman, so I do.

And can you believe these people only want to give me credit for one course?

Which one?

Archery. It had to be archery.

Come on.

I passed a lot of courses at Hillman. No, but... They tell me that if you

transfer from another school, they can't accept any grade lower than a C.

That is totally unfair!

I mean, what is a D?

I mean, a D is 70%. I mean, if I had 70 %

of a pie.

Right.

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 Ds, and seven Is for incomplete. And the C was in Archer.

okay. So I called him about those incompletes, and I said I would fly down

take tasks, write papers, whatever they wanted, to make those incompletes up.

And what did they say? No, I'd let too much time pass. They can't let me do

that. I mean, what do these people want from me?

Don't they know I want to be a teacher?

So what you're saying, Denise, is that if you enter Medgar Evers College,

be starting as a freshman?

Yes!

And... read this.

Thank you for your interest in Medgar Evers College of the City University of

New York.

Even though you received high scores on your math, reading, and writing

placement exams because of your poor academic performance at Hillman, you

be assigned two counselors.

One counselor will assist you with your academic needs, and a peer counselor

will help you adjust to your new environment.

You know, I tried to talk him into giving me more credits for life

Life experience?

Yes, Dad, life experience. I mean, I did go to Africa for a year as a

photographer's assistant. That should count for something.

And I'm raising a child. I mean, that's a big deal.

I mean, marriage. That is a tremendous life experience.

And I'm living at home with my parents.

You want credit for that?

college. And I'll tell you something else. I should get credit for failing

college and wanting to go back.

Let's backtrack for a minute. If memory serves me correctly, you marched into

this living room one day, informed us that you were going to become a teacher

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 a good thing, but darling.

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 go pick up Olivia at her preschool.

But let me just say this, okay? I think it is totally unfair for someone who has

spent three semesters in college to have to start all over again as a freshman.

I mean, don't these people know that I want to be a teacher? I mean, this is

what I want to do.

Look at me. I'm enthusiastic.

But do they care? No. All they care about are Cs.

of children out there who need a good teacher.

And now they're not going to get one. I mean, is anyone thinking about the

children?

No, no. All they're thinking about is what I once was, not what I am now.

Okay. I just love what I saw here. That was amazing seeing these kids enjoy

math. Math doesn't have to be boring. I've wanted to teach Olivia math for a

long time, but I didn't think she was ready. Well, if you make it fun, they

learn. Right, Olivia?

Right!

left here negative and angry.

Who would have thought going to Olivia's preschool would have changed my life

completely? I don't know, honey, 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?

Oh, no, no, no. College has nothing to do with it. Today, I witnessed an

alternative to traditional education.

Olivia, one.

Hit it.

One times one is one.

One times two is four.

One times five is five. Okay, honey.

She doesn't even want to stop. Now that's learning.

I'm impressed.

Mommy, can I have an orange? Sure.

One times five is five. One times six is six. One times seven is seven. Now you

know why I don't have to go back to college. This is the kind of teaching I

to do.

There's a man at her preschool, Uncle Wilton, who teaches multiplication

by using rap.

I mean, you should see how eager these children were to learn.

Oh, I'm sure you're right.

If I want to do this, I don't have to work within the system.

I can just get up there and do it. The kids will have so much fun learning.

Denise, there is no shortcut to becoming a teacher.

And, honey, if you really want to work with children, 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 just dump it on me. All

is that anything worth having is worth working for. There's no easy way.

looking for an easy way. You know, I'm willing to pay my dues or work 18 hours

day for little money to learn how to teach this way. You do not understand

concept of paying dues. Paying dues is what you do after you spend years in

school training and preparing 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.

You know, I should just do what I want and stop telling you guys.

What it is, I'm going to do.

And maybe when we were making the decision to have that child, somebody

have poured some cold water on Cliff.

One times 11.

One times 11.

Anyway, you. I got it. Yeah.

to senior children. They're having so much fun. I'm a teacher, you know. I'm

favor of anything that helps children learn.

You want some juice? Yeah, apple? Mm -hmm.

You know, I can't help think if someone had made learning that exciting for me,

I probably would have dropped out of college.

Wait a minute.

Are you telling me if your college courses were all in rap, you would have

stayed in? No, that is not what I'm saying. I'm saying if someone had made

learning exciting, I might not have lost my enthusiasm.

You know, I think this method could work in the classroom with every subject.

You do?

Yeah, I mean, like, English, history. I wrote one for history. You have to hear

this.

Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.

When he got to the shore, he said, Let's talk on a place called Plymouth Rock.

Denise, Columbus sailed to the Caribbean in 1492.

The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620.

teach anyone with rap, I think you're going to have to have someone teach you

the right information.

I was too busy writing this song to worry about the facts.

I could always change the lyrics. The point is, I think this is a very valid

to teach children, and this is the way I want to go.

I think you should try this in your classroom.

Denise, I am more than grateful to Sesame Street and Mr.

Rogers. and all the television shows that use music and animation and clever

production techniques to dazzle children into learning. But it won't work for

me. I don't sing and dance.

It would be nice if I could get Madonna and Janet Jackson to come in and sing

about numbers and letters, but I can't. I teach in the real world, and I do it

because I love teaching and I love children. I love children, too.

My dream is to work with children who have learning disabilities so I can find

out what's going on with holding them back and help them move past that, you

know? I think Uncle Wilton's method will work with them. I don't need college to

do that.

Anne, I want to go down there and tell Uncle Wilton I want to be his

That's what you want to do?

Yes, that's what I want to do.

Anne, I want you to come down to the center, and I want you to see his

technique. Okay, I'm open.

And who knows, maybe, you know, 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.

Yeah, good square.

And we can be a triangle.

Good, good triangle.

Or we can be the letter T.

Great T, great T.

Dr. Gordon?

All right, let's go, everybody. We're going to the film library to look at

dinosaurs and pterodactyls.

Hey! Here we go, everybody.

Way to dot the I, Olivia.

I know what I'm doing. Yes, you do.

You ready to meet Uncle Pterodactyl? Okay.

Bye! Bye -bye!

Excuse me, Uncle Wilton?

Yes. Hi.

This is my friend Rebecca Schroeder. She's a fifth grade teacher.

Pleasure to meet you, Rebecca.

I like what you're doing here. Thank you very much. Um...

Uncle Wilton, I know that I've only seen your class twice, but I want you to

know that I've... Well, I've really been affected by it, and I'd like to study

with you and Gordon and learn your techniques and hopefully pass them on to

other children.

I mean, you wouldn't have to pay me anything.

I'd be your apprentice.

Well, I'm flattered, but let me ask you something. Where'd you go to college?

Hellman. Good school.

Did you get your bachelor's or your master's degree?

Oh.

Um...

Actually, I don't have either.

Well, I suggest you go back to college, get your degree, come back to SEAL.

We'd love to have you. I need a degree to, you know, play the drums and rap to

children? Well, understand, we don't teach everything through music.

So you use traditional teaching methods also.

Absolutely. And the drums and the rap are just to reinforce what you've

taught the children, right?

You've got it. I'd be a great instructor. I'm enthusiastic.

I love to learn.

I'm fired up. Oh, that's good. But to work with us, you must have a college

degree. Excuse me, ladies.

Oh, gosh.

All I want to do is help children and no one will let me. Denise, why are you so

hard -headed? The man didn't say that. He said you have to get an education to

be of help here.

Well, I am ready.

Uncle Wilton would work with me. Uncle Wilton already has enough children to

work with. He doesn't need one as old as you.

Denise, why don't you want to go to college?

Why are you so afraid to go to college? Because I'm ready now.

You know, a lot of people think they can just walk in off the street and do

something because it looks easy.

But they don't realize you have to work hard to make something look easy.

I know you want to work with children who have learning disabilities.

And in order for you to do that, you are going to have to learn how to deal with

children who have special needs.

Oh, learn on the job.

All right. 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. Give me a break. Come on. I'm

Just go. I'm serious. 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.

Come on, Mrs. Kendall. I want...

something, teach me.

Okay.

Rebecca. Class, today we are going to learn our multiplication tables. Please

repeat after me.

Times one is one.

you gonna do when the other children learn this and you don't okay well sure

do i mean the other kids are not gonna think you're smart as they are i'm gonna

tell my mama you call me dumb i didn't say

that you're dumb i just said that the other kids

won't think that you're smart as they are because i'm dumb

Hey, 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

have a college degree.

Cliff? Honey, have you seen Denise?

Uh -uh.

She said she was going out for a walk.

I'm a little concerned about her, honey. 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 made a decision.

I've been thinking... I mean,

what's wrong with spending the rest of my life as a wife and a mother?

I mean, millions of women all around the world do it and are content and happy.

Maybe it's a very noble and honorable profession.

Well, I agree with you.

I hope you're not just saying that because you're giving up on some other

you would have liked me to go back to college and become a teacher, but I

think it's for me.

Well, whatever you decide, we're behind you.

You mean 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.

Well, hey, that's good enough for me.

Thanks for your support.

Oh, um, Mom, I, uh, forgot to say this.

Thank you.

Denise, it says you're entering Medgar Evers College this summer as a freshman?

Not a good catch, is that?

Left him barefoot in an open mouth. Beautiful.

I'm so good.

The coffee show is taped in front of a studio audience.