A South Philadelphia prep school is expelling a foreign-born student for recording his classmates who can’t read.
Menvekeh Kosia, who carries a high grade point average (GPA), went viral last week when he asked his classmates to read a handwritten sentence on an index card.
The sentence read: “She wore a silhouette of clothes that were extraordinary but somewhat gauche.”
The students had difficulty pronouncing the words “silhouette”, “extraordinary”, and “gauche.” One boy said, “I don’t even know how to read. I don’t know why I didn’t know.”
Critics argue that students at a college preparatory school, weeks away from graduation, should know how to pronounce “silhouette” and “extraordinary.”
The TikTok video has been viewed more than 14 million times – not counting the clips going viral on Instagram and X.com.
Menvekeh shared a second video in which he asked classmates to read another sentence: “The colonel asked the choir to accommodate the governor’s schedule.”
Most students could read the sentence. But when asked to explain what the sentence meant, the students struggled. One student said “accommodate” means “to sing with the governor.” Another student guessed accommodate meant “to read his schedule.” A third student understood the assignment. But when pressed, he said, “I don’t know, bro.”
The Preparatory Charter High School responded to the public uproar by moving to expel Menvekeh. The school’s administration decided to expel Menvekeh for violating school policy by identifying other students in his videos.
The school argued that the harsh discipline is warranted because some of the students were recorded without their consent and exposed to public ridicule.
But parents and critics argued that the school system allowed seniors at a college prep school to reach graduation while struggling with basic reading and comprehension.
Black people are approximately 12.1% of the U.S. population, but black students have the lowest reading proficiency of any racial group in America.
Factors include poverty, poor nutrition, trauma, and chronic absenteeism.
@whatthevek Should I Do a Part 2? #fyp #viral #funny #highschool #read ? Satie Gymnopedie No. 1 Healing(980355) – Tani Taka
@whatthevek It’s kernel lol #whatthevek #funny #viral #philly #highschool ? sonido original – Música_Clásica