Feel Free To NJASK 2008

by Mr. B. DuBoff, the Bald Prophet

It’s me, the Bald Prophet, my hair on my chin and lip

Back on stage with a mic in my grip,

Holding this tiny tip in my noggin:

If you go brain joggin’ and trip on bad habits, you’ll writhe in pain,

Your skin will sting with the rain of defeat when your grades are beat,

At that rate, cool guy, you can’t even try college,

Without knowledge you sway like a bum,

You wither away every day like shower soap scum.

The NJASK is a hurdle we must jump to excel,

Pass the ASK, or leap into a lonely well,

Despair is what you’ll be coppin’

While your buds are university hoppin’,

But if you get on the good foot and step to the book beat,

There’ll be no stopping you, smarty-pants,

You’ll dance at every affair, you’ll always dress debonair

If you focus on the prize and run your best race,

You can’t buy wisdom, no matter who pays, 

Control your future and stay out of a lazy adolescent daze.

An open mind is a terrible thing to close,

When you dam up your future, no ideas flow,

Look past what your nose knows,

Don’t be a follower who will just propose

What the leader spits out, how loud must I shout

Until you get the idea and follow the plan,

When you learn and advance, you are your own woman and man,

You blaze a trail to your mind’s freedom, your own fiefdom,

Unbind your soul and strive for the top of your classes,

Run faster and faster until you are your own academic master,

No need to follow the masses when you increase your learning speed,

You’ll earn respect you never knew you wanted when books are hunted.

So get to the high school, the time for fooling is over,

You don’t need a four-leaf clover or a rabbit’s foot to be lucky,

The only way that your life can get mucky

Is ignoring and deploring the sage words you’re hearing right now,

You could be contented like a cow, or slop in the mud like a hyper sow,

But when you end up flippin’ your brothers and sisters at the fast food stop

Don’t look to me for my eyes to drop;

I’ll be a proud professional bringing you the news,

Lose those academic blues and get on the good foot,

Wash that video soot from your rose-colored glasses,

Your real destiny awaits you in your classes.

Talkin' 'Bout the GEPA (2007)

by Mr. B. DuBoff, the Bald Prophet

This is the Bald Prophet, back in ’07: you see,

I’m here to speak about what will make you feel heavenly,

Will make you feel glad to be sky high when you try

To flourish in the GEPA with your friends nearby.

I won’t lie, it isn’t easy, but what these days is a breeze?

You don’t have to be The Wiz to know that to find ease

You must be relaxed, not taxed, and surely not wack.

New Jersey is watching you, so don’t disappoint:

The state wants success, it wants to anoint you

As kings and queens of the community.

But you cannot lead if you cannot read!

You cannot carry the torch of knowledge

If you scorch your fingers with ignorance.

Don’t be a dunce, play the game and like it,

Give the state what it wants and get excited:

Incite a riot of wisdom that spreads like wildfire

And blazes like a pyre of burning knowledge

That will last you all the way to college.

We teachers get no fame or fortune whatever the game,

We’re the messengers, so please don’t give us the blame

We’re doing our job and you must comply

You have an unlimited supply

Of effort if you’re willing to try;

Choose brilliance and you’ll light up the sky.

You’re on a lifetime voyage of discovery:

Be all that you can be and walk the straight and narrow

You know what is right down to the marrow in your bones,

So get off of those silly cell phones and hoist your future’s sail

Your iPod doesn’t care whether you pass or fail—

Instant messages don’t make you great, they only give you mail.

Navigate your fate with Science, Math and Language Arts,

Prove to the school and the state that you’re smart.

We want to believe in your skills,

We know your brains can be knowledge mills

If you will show the will to rock this test

And prove to us that you’re the very best.

Talkin' 'Bout the GEPA (2006)

by Mr. B. DuBoff, the Bald Prophet

We’re all talkin’ ‘bout the GEPA next week

Unless your brain has sprung a leak

Then you know you must succeed,

Plant a seed of knowledge on the paper

And watch it blossom into proficiency.

Proficiency is NJ’s way of meeting the NCLB,

The federal law that says no child can be left behind,

No student can be denied a free education,

No investigation needed, no question you need it,

You’d better heed it or pay the price—

Why roll the dice with your life?

If you think school is trifling, try ignorance, if you can,

But it’s no plan for the big girls and the big boys,

Who want the big ice and the big ride and the big toys.

What good is money if you don’t know how to count it?

What good is a rhyme if you don’t know how to sound it?

You need these skills so don’t let the GEPA heat up your grill

Don’t let your brain drain on the windowsill

Get your head in the lead and make yourself succeed

 It’s too late later

You’ve got to get it right, send your score out of sight

Or face academic blight--

Without school, every day seems like night.

Do you want to spend your life at Mickey Ds

Instead of being all that you can be?

Stop complaining and raining on your teachers’ parade,

The GEPA was not made by us, so let’s hear no more fuss,

You must see that it’s the state that needs it,

It’s the state that feeds it, so get to the GEPA now--

You’ve got a job to do, and we do too;

Pass this test and impress us

So you can possess the wisdom to tell the state

That you’re ready for your future and your fate.

©2006 by B. DuBoff, the Bald Prophet