Two school-age kids reside in Baltimore City. One refuses to allow the other to get a decent education, requiring the authorities to get involved. Other onlookers are left confused, dazed, and baffled by the events. The answers to why are complex, but if you choose to listen, the author, Jerome Redd, gives a great explanation to those questions.
Jerome understands many aspects that adolescents have to endure. He, himself, had a similar background from elementary school through to the Army. With this knowledge, he takes one of the onlookers, his friend, to a boot camp in upstate New York, home to incarcerated youth. Like the children in Baltimore City, authorities had to step in to curb the troubled youth. Jerome becomes part of the education for the children and quickly discovers just how broken they are. He also learns he has something he can offer them.