Question: What are the differences between Deza’s old school in Gary, Indiana, and her new school in Flint, Michigan? Cite text evidence to support your answer.


Text: From Chapter Twenty-Two: Learning How to Settle in Flint I’d been having such a good time being Little Stew and trying to fill in all the missing words from the Reader’s Digest that time had completely run off and forgot all about me! “But, Mother, Miss Stew needs me to—” “You aren’t suggesting you stay here and help Stew instead of going to school, are you?” When she said it like that, it did seem silly. ***On the outside, schools in Flint seemed a lot like schools in Gary, but they weren’t. Instead of having one teacher all day, in Flint we went from classroom to classroom and teacher to teacher for each subject. The teachers were different too. First, all of them were white, and second, they weren’t anywhere as nice as the teachers in Gary. But one of Mrs. Needham’s lessons stuck: I was learning how to toughen up. I got my usual As on the tests in mathematics, geography, civics and history. After my first mathematics test, when class was dismissed, Mrs. Scott called me to her desk. “Deza, have you always done so well in math? You’re the only student who got a perfect score.” I sounded very humble, but the truth’s the truth. “Yes, ma’am. Mathematics is one of my favorite subjects.” It was great to be back in school! “Could I ask you a favor?” Maybe she wanted me to help some of my classmates. Even though they were white, some of them were the spittin’ image of Dolly Peaches and Benny Cobb. She slid a paper toward me. It had five unsolved story problems on it. “Could you sit right there, right now, and solve these for me?” Maybe Mrs. Scott was seeing if I was ready for harder work. I finished in no time. She looked them over. “Hmm, perfect again, but next time you must make sure to show all your work. You’re dismissed.” I was surprised that was all she said. In English class I really showed how much I’d toughened up. Flint teachers don’t have the imaginations that Gary teachers do, so instead of giving grades back so everyone knows what you got, they walk around the class and hand your test or paper back to you. Upside down. Mr. Smith was passing out our first essay. I’d followed all of Mrs. Needham’s advice. I’d written it at the Flint Public Library and was very careful not to use the dictionary or the thesaurus too much. And I didn’t digress at all. I made sure my posture was good, crossed my ankles and folded my hands on the desk when he got close to me. He handed me my paper and smiled. “Very good job.” My heart flew! “Thank you, sir.” I turned my paper over. He’d written, “Good for you!” and put a giant C+ with three exclamation points. I turned the paper back over. Maybe I saw it wrong. I looked again but it was the same. One sign that I had toughened up was that instead of crying I thought of a little joke that Jimmie said he did whenever he didn’t like his grade. “I turn the paper over, then, the same way people bang on a machine it if ain’t acting right, I smack my hand on the paper. Maybe if I bang it hard enough my grade will jump up a mark!” It was nonsense, but I slapped my hand on Mr. Smith’s essay. I turned the paper back over and smiled. I’d have to tell Jimmie that it still wasn’t working. Mrs. Needham would’ve been proud. Instead of bawling, I looked at Mr. Smith’s back and said to myself, “OK, buster, I’m going to make sure my next essay is the best thing I’ve ever written. You won’t have any choice but to give me my A plus.” When me and Loretta were walking back to camp I asked, “What grade did you get on your essay?” “I don’t know, the same old D. What’d you get?” “C plus.” She stopped walking. “Uh-oh, no, you didn’t!” I showed her my grade. “Ooh, girl, you must be real smart.” “For getting a C plus?” “All these teachers up here at Whittier’s prejudice. Katherine Williams was the smartest colored girl in the school and all she use to get was a C. You must be a genius to get a C plus!” She laughed. “I’m gonna see if I can sit next to you when we take our next exam!”