...Not My Proudest Moment

2019-08-16 · story · Hank · 3:56 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay

Prompted by John's near-failing story, Hank tells how a teacher let him pass an 11th-grade class even after he kicked a locker door off, and argues that privilege and prejudice are biases we all have: the more you have, the more people are wary of taking it from you.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Reply to John's video; Hank's 11th-grade landscape design class at another campus and his counted absences

★★ John's video about almost failing a class until his teacher stopped it reminded Hank that exactly the same thing happened to him. — 00:00:00 · John Green
★★★ In 11th grade Hank took a landscape design course held at a different campus; sometimes, instead of taking the bus there after fifth period, he slept in the band room. — 00:00:00
★★★ His school failed students with more than ten unexplained absences, so Hank, self-important, tracked his to have exactly ten; at semester's end the teacher told him he would fail. — 00:00:29

00:00:56 — Kicking a locker door off, the teacher marking it as nine, and thinking he was good at getting away with stuff

★★★ Hank was furious, but at himself, not the teacher, for thinking he was so clever; it helped him see he took for granted he would always be let off. — 00:00:56
★★★ Hank walked into the hallway and kicked a hanging-open locker door in steel-toed Doc Martens; the door ripped off and flew across the hallway. — 00:00:56
★★★ Back in class, with everyone looking, the teacher said aloud they would mark it down as nine: Hank went from failing, to destroying property, to not failing. — 00:01:25
★★ Even in the moment it felt wrong to Hank, but he did not question it. — 00:01:25
★★ Hank did a lot of bad stuff in high school knowing the risk was small, and thought back then that he was just good at getting away with stuff. — 00:01:25

00:02:11 — Privilege and prejudice as biases we all have; racism is not a secret disease of monsters; Gene Demby; the more you have

★★★ Hank says he got away with things because of how he looked, his good grades and his 'potential': humans never stop doing the math. — 00:02:11
★★★ Prejudice and privilege are not signs of interior rot or a disease monsters have, Hank says, but of biases everyone has and deals with. — 00:02:11
★★★ Sometimes racism is cruel, violent and intentional, but sometimes it is just that a white kid kicking a locker door off looks different to you than a black kid. — 00:02:11
★★★ Hank thinks much of America is stuck on the idea that racism is a secret disease only monsters have. — 00:02:11 · United States
★★ Hank links something Gene Demby wrote that helped him think more correctly about this and says it better than he could. — 00:02:51
★★★ It seems, Hank says, that the more you have, the warier people are of taking from you; the less you have or seem to have, the more society exploits, punishes or gives up on you. (hedged) — 00:02:51

00:03:15 — Inequality; gratitude to parents, mentors and teachers; sign-off

★★ Hank wants a sociologist to explain it, but it seems real: both a cause of increasing inequality and something that worsens with it, and the source of much bad. (hedged) — 00:03:15 · economic inequality
★★★ Hank is grateful parents, mentors and teachers showed him he wasn't a clever kid good at getting away with stuff, but a person who had a lot, so people were wary of taking it. — 00:03:15

In the description and comments

★ The description says Hank can't believe he hadn't told this story yet, maybe because of all the shame. (playful, hedged) — video description

Threads in this video

told · Hank's 11th-grade landscape design class: counted absences, a kicked-off locker door, and a teacher who marks it as nine — In 11th grade Hank took a landscape design course held at a different campus; sometimes, instead of taking the bus there after fifth period, he slept in the band room. (00:00:00)
restate · Is racism mainly systemic bias rather than individual malice? — Sometimes racism is cruel, violent and intentional, but sometimes it is just that a white kid kicking a locker door off looks different to you than a black kid. (00:02:11)
restate · Is extreme wealth, and the tax system that protects it, a problem? — Hank wants a sociologist to explain it, but it seems real: both a cause of increasing inequality and something that worsens with it, and the source of much bad. (00:03:15)
restate · Do people get what they deserve, or do luck and privilege decide? — Hank is grateful parents, mentors and teachers showed him he wasn't a clever kid good at getting away with stuff, but a person who had a lot, so people were wary of taking it. (00:03:15)
restate · Is evil found only in certain people, or in all of us? — Prejudice and privilege are not signs of interior rot or a disease monsters have, Hank says, but of biases everyone has and deals with. (00:02:11)

Mentioned

Central: racism · social privilege

Also: cognitive bias · Dr. Martens · economic inequality · Gene Demby · Sydney Green · United States

Also centred on racism: The Best and Worst of 2014 · Racism in the United States: By the Numbers · What I've Been Thinking About · --- · So Much to Do

Also centred on social privilege: Neck Beards and Fitness Challenges · Time for AWESOME · Started from the Bottom: Benjamin Franklin and Drake Compared · Deserving · Should I Feel Guilty? · How I (barely) Passed 11th Grade English

Replies to

continues · How I (barely) Passed 11th Grade English — “Your video about the time when you almost failed a class and then your teacher made you not do that”

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