Dr. Martin Luther King's Legacy.........Today?

There have been many changes to our Civil Rights over the years and many students do not try to take advantage of it! In the speech that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the night before he was assassinated, he says, "...And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land." King knew he was not going to be there to see his dream come true. It was enough for him to share his dream and for all people to take advantage of it. If Dr. King were to come to school, he would think many students are not taking advantage of what he fought for and that many are rude to each other, treating each other as if they are not equals (or have equal rights).

First of all, there are many students who slack off during school, truly not caring about their education. The fact that we have integrated schools where we can get a better education should influence students to work hard, but it does the opposite. Students who skip school or class do not take advantage of their education that is a privilege because not every country around the world forces students to go to school. In other countries around the world, school is privilege not all have. It is for those who are better and the rest work off debt for their family, a debt that is truly not theirs to pay off. There are other students who are always there, but they choose not to do the work. They can sit there and complain about how lazy they feel and how they will not do the work. That is a reason  why Dr. King would be disappointed in students in the school.

Secondly, there are the students that have rude comments about someone or some people. Dr. King would frown upon this because he liked to solve problems peacefully. Students have racist or just rude comments on skin color. This is where bullying comes into play as well. The students act as if they are not equal and put each other down. On occasion, there have been times when students begin to fight, physically; the students end up suspended from school. For the last twelve years of his life, Dr. King peacefully protested against what he thought was wrong. He believed in equal rights and many did not, but it did not give him a reason to fight. Dr. King used his eloquent way of speaking to argue instead of physically fighting back. On the contrary, students do not use their words, but believe in using their fists.

As a final point, the way students speak, in slang, is not something Dr. King would want to hear. In my school, there are many students who speak in slang and do not use proper grammar. Dr. King was a passionate speaker and spoke in an articulate manner. His ears would probably deteriorate at the sound of so much slang coming from students' mouths. There are phrases they use in my school such as, "OD, You is...(instead of you are), epic fail," and many more. These are not phrases Dr. King would use or has used, when he was alive. In the "I have a Dream" speech, he used his way of speaking, (speaking eloquently) to talk about his dream on equal rights. Words no longer mean anything to these students because they can just use their own way of speaking to one another, slang.

To summarize, Dr. King would not appreciate the type of "discipline" many students at school live by. His ears would come off if he heard how students speak to one another and how they speak to teachers as well. King never believed in violence, he would be appalled to see how much violence surrounds the school and city. All of this revolves around how Dr. King spent his time to have equal rights among all and also knowing he would die before his dream came true, just to have students being unappreciative towards his hard work. Students not taking advantage of what he never had is very disappointing.