How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I want the teacher visit my boy. I want the teacher make him know he's not a hog, he's a man." (3.36)
Miss Emma gives a lot of credit to teachers. Even though in his six years at school Jefferson didn't learn enough from Grant to make him into a man, she thinks that he must have the power to do it in a short amount of time. Hopefully he's got super powers.
Quote #2
I was supposed to teach six months out of the year, but actually I taught only five and a half months, from late October to the middle of April, when the children were not needed in the field. (5.4)
This shortening of the school year may sound cool to you, but if you think about the fact that it is extreme poverty that drives families to take their kids out of school and make them work, you might count your blessings for those weeks of school in September, October, May and (ugh, the worst) June.
Quote #3
"Exactly what I'm trying to do here with you now: to make you responsible young men and young ladies. But you, you prefer to play with bugs. You refuse to study your arithmetic, and you prefer writing slanted sentences instead of straight ones. Does that make any sense?" (5.47)
Grant is looking at his students and fearing for their futures, because he knows how likely it is for kids in their situation to end up just like Jefferson. The only problem is, he has no idea how to help them break the cycle and just ends up lecturing them.