Chad: Here's the focus 
for today, okay?
So we are going to dig back 
into this book that we're reading.
Arshon: This is our advisory.
The facilitator is Mr. Prather.
Can't say enough about him.
I just feel like I can talk to him about anything.
Chad: A lot of the issues that 
we explore are relative to
what's happening in the community.
This semester we're reading All American Boys.
Today, we finished a chapter 
that concluded with
one character kind of giving a
thesis or an argument about
the role that authority plays
in the lives of people like him.
In this case, he's a young 
African-American male
whose brother has just been
assaulted by a police officer.
Student: "And guess what saved the day? Football."
"Ah, football," Spoony said.
"Another one of America's favorite
pastimes, besides baseball
and beating the brains out of..."
Student: "So I turned the TV back on
quick."
Arshon: When I heard that, like, 
I instantly, it just draws me into it,
because
it's just, a lot going on
that I can relate to.
Chad: We had a few kids who were
willing to share that gut reaction today
and applied
the elements of the text to things
that are happening in the lives
directly around them.
Arshon: People abuse their authority
when they get it.
Like, it's just... I just go through
a lot of that
on a day-to-day basis.
Chad: I come from experiences that 
are wildly different from the experiences
that most of my kids have had.
Not all of my kids are from the
United States.
Not all of them are from Nashville.
And so, just asking questions,
getting to know kids, asking them
what their stories are...
Chad: Do you see these 
things happening?
Or is this something that you kind 
of know happens,
but it's not part of your 
experience, or what?
Arshon: It has happened to me, 
my friends, family.
Every—almost everybody I know.
People I'm around, like, every day.
Like it just, make us so mad,
like to the point where we like,
we like, don't even care about
authority no more.
Like, we don't want to listen to
nobody in authority cause,
like, y'all done us so wrong,
like, all this time, so why we listen to
y'all now?
Chad: You make yourself vulnerable.
You make yourself the student.
I'm far more
the student than the teacher, 
in this case.
Student: ...put yourself in,
like, the situation.
What happened in the book, that
still goes on, to me.
I feel it's never gonna go away,
but I mean... hey.
Chad: When kids have an opportunity 
to share their stories
and when you really
 listen to their stories,
everyone seems to have respect for,
and trust in, one another.
And a love for one another
that says "I've got you."
Arshon: Our advisory is a family.
I feel like I could talk about
anything I need to in here.
