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By Takiyah Larkin
Kids these days value their swag instead of their education. They’d rather have a $200 pair of Jordan’s that would go out of style within a few months to a year, causing them to throw them out or sell them. Rather than valuing the priceless opportunity of their education.
When the Bred 11s were going to be released, a friend of mine in class made sure her phone ringer was on so she could hear if a shoe store would call her back about having the winning ticket to buy the new pair of Jordans. She didn’t care if her loud ringtone would interrupt class, nor if she stepped out the class to answer the call while the teacher was giving a lecture. All through class she was worried about if she would get the call or not. She didn’t bother to pay attention to the teacher’s directions or the work they were assigning. She even told me that she was going to cry if she wasn’t able to get the Bred 11s. This appalled me a little because I never thought a pair of shoes were ever that important to cry over.
Yet, the situation completely amazed me, because she had poor grades and I’ve never seen her feel this strongly about them. To me, that’s more of a reason to cry instead of a pair of shoes. I would never let a pair of shoes come before my education. Without any education, where can I really go in life? I wouldn’t be able to get too far. That’s the problem now a days, kids focus too much on their sense of fashion rather than what’s in the textbook. Bad grades can lessen some of the opportunities you might have in the future and make it harder to make a decent living, not getting a pair of Jordans only means that you’re “late with the new come up.”
So you tell me, a pair of Jordans or your education? You choose.
This commentary originally aired on Youth Radio’s Core Show.