A Queens mom was outraged recently when she realized her son’s Zoom economics class at a Brooklyn high school featured rap videos of drug deals, prostitutes, and off-color language.
The woman, who works at home, became so upset during the lesson about “money, power, and respect,” she took her son’s laptop and shouted at Deyate Hagood, a social studies teacher with A-TECH High School in Williamsburg, for wasting valuable time, the New York Post reported Saturday.
“You honestly ought to be motherf–king embarrassed. Disgusting!” she yelled at Hagood.
According to video footage reportedly filmed by the woman’s son, Hagood appeared to tell her, “It does teach them what people needed to do in order to attain something.”
However, the young man’s mother disagreed with those claims.
“You need to sell drugs and you need to be a prostitute to make money? You’re at school. You should be teaching how you get an education to get a job. Get an education to get a job. That should be the message,” she said.
“Your own students are saying, ‘what did the video show? Sell drugs to make money,'” the woman continued.
Their exchange highlighted what the mother called “lazy” remote instruction at a low-performing New York City high school, and how teenagers are glued to screens but learning little during the coronavirus pandemic, the Post article read.
“I’ve had to watch my high-school senior spend an entire year at home in isolation while receiving a very limited education,” said the mother, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her son.
During the class on February 24, Hagood reportedly used two hip-hop videos, “C.R.E.A.M” and “Money, Power, Respect.”
DOE spokeswoman Katie O’Hanlon did not explain the purpose of the lesson or videos but claimed the school had received no complaints although the mother complained directly to Hagood.
“This is a classroom, albeit virtual, and you should be teaching something valuable. These kids are supposed to be preparing for college, and this isn’t helpful to them,” the teen’s mom concluded.