MESA and White Boys

Wow, 2 posts in one day! I just have to write about this before I forget to.

About a month ago David, Cameron and I went to Cameron's Parent Teacher Conference. When he told his Physics teacher that he was interested in building a trebuchet, his teacher said, "You should join MESA, we're building trebuchets this year."

We were all stunned. "They won't let white boys join MESA," we said.

"Oh, that changed this year. A white boy wanted to join and took MESA to court, so now white boys can join," his teacher replied.

Interesting.

So, we go home and tell Jarom, our math whiz, "You can join MESA now. They're building trebuchets this year."

Jarom thought MESA and trebuchet building might be cool, so the next night at his Parent Teacher Conference, we talk to his Algebra teacher about it. She turns kind of pale and says, "Oh, no, white boys can't join MESA. If we allow any white boys to join MESA at the Jr. High our funding will be pulled."

So we tell her about the High School. "I only know what they told us at our meeting," she says. "If Jarom would like to join, he can write a note stating he would like to join and I can forward it to the district representative, but I can't promise you anything." Then she turns to Jarom, "MESA was created for populations that don't traditionally enter math and science professions. The club is mostly girls and hispanics. Are you sure you would even want to be in MESA?"

Jarom looks at her and says, "My friend Cody is in the club, that's why I want to join." Score one for Jarom. I was proud of him. His teacher didn't really know what to say to that.

One morning when I was driving Meagan, Cameron and Tyler to school, we were talking about white boys and MESA. Tyler, who is half white, but probably couldn't pass for it, says, "Have you looked around the High School lately? White boys ARE the minority!"

In the end, neither Jarom or Cameron joined MESA. Jarom didn't want to make waves and Cameron didn't get a parent's signature in time. Maybe next year.