As a follow-up to the award-winning "Path to 2000" special section, I spent more than a semester in various grade school classrooms at West Ridge School in Mount Pleasant. It was a powerful experience.

“He preferred to be called ‘Mr. Cocaine.’ During a class question-and-answer session one day, the first-grader defiantly told the student teacher he didn't want to be called by his given name. “He said, ‘Don't call me that, I'm Mr. Cocaine,’ ” the teacher said. “I said, ‘I hope not.’ I was shocked.”