An Unsentimental Education

"I don't know where this fits in, but I'm thinking that all us kids have similar dreams. We all want success, whatever that is. For the well-to-do kids, it's probably go to Harvard, graduate, get a job for millions of dollars."

"Slow down a minute," Carlos interrupts him. "I got something to say but, but--"

"Just say what it is--"

"OK, see, thing is it's important for kids to mix it up. Learn how to get along. Otherwise, that's how racism gets made--by ignorance. By what TV says. That's why poor people get kicked. You got to learn to get along with people different from you. Got to learn how their lives go here in America. What's the use of school otherwise? Besides all the book facts, I can't figure out what would be the use."

"Maybe I don't sit in all the upper classes," Nate says before heading off, "but it sure seems to me like the only causes America's teaching is for personal happiness, entertainment, and getting a job. You know, how to get ahead of somebody else. Us kids, we get all divided trying to figure it out, and I got to wonder who profits off that?"

"Sometimes, man, it just seems easier not to think about it," Carlos says, to no one in particular.