"Corner Boys" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of the HBO original series The Wire.
Calvin and Charlene struggle with the change in the particulars from their practice work but Dukie is able to apply the skills he learned to the new problem.
When De'Londa catches her son Namond working on his package in his bedroom she angrily tells him that the police could seize their house if the drugs are found there and insists he hand the task on to a lieutenant.
The next day an energized Namond raises the hypocrisy of a system that promises to reward him for good behavior when it fails to live by its own rules much of the time; he states steroids, liquor, cigarettes and Enron as examples.
Sampson and Hanson offer typical sage advice: Prez's first year as a teacher has to be less about the children and more about him surviving.
At lunch, Prez watches Dukie show Crystal and her friends how to shop for jewelry on the internet.
Prez leaves his offer open and suggests that Michael could talk to the school social worker.
The academics are impressed with their results but have noticed that some of the children are not participating — those with deeper problems in particular.
Parenti wonders whether they can convince the corner kids to take an interest in subjects beyond drug dealing.
Namond delivers his takings to his mother and she notices that he has made less than she would expect from a full package.
Bunk tries to convince Holley and Crutchfield to revisit the scene of the shooting for which Omar has been arrested.
Bunk returns to Andre's store with a grand jury summons, finding him talking with a prostitute named Dee-Dee before bringing him in.
Snoop and Chris casually deposit the bodies of two New York drug dealers in a vacant building, board it up and then go out for Chinese food.
Slim Charles suggests that Marlo's technique of disappearing the bodies of his soldier's victims is lessening the impact of their kills.
Joe learns that Herc has been reassigned to the Major Crimes Unit and is patrolling the streets, then hangs up without leaving a message.
Chris wants Snoop to ask the dealers a question about Baltimore; if they answer incorrectly, they will get shot.
Later, they find a New York dealer, and when he doesn't understand what Chris is asking, they shoot him, leaving his body on the street.
Carcetti continues his observation of the Baltimore Police Department at work spending the day in the Eastern District with the DEU squad.
Carcetti catches up with the flex squad and finds that they are also making an arrest with little more than statistical value: a young boy they have pulled up for possession.
Rawls insists that he agrees with Carcetti and indirectly blames Commissioner Ervin Burrell, claiming that affirmative action policies sometimes advance black officers beyond their capabilities, and that a leader who owes his position to the "numbers game" of affirmative action would consequently care more about numbers—such as arrest statistics—than about genuinely reducing crime.
Rawls claims that targeting high-end drug dealers would be his preference, but that he respects the chain of command.
Carcetti, Wilson and Gerry meet with representatives from the Democratic party to discuss strategy for his term.
The party representative suggests that education is a good polling issue, but Wilson tells her that with the problems in Baltimore's schools, Carcetti will be better off avoiding that topic.
Daniels tells Carcetti that much of day-to-day police work in Baltimore is a waste of time and energy.
"Corner Boys" references the terminology used to describe the disruptive students in school, and the focus taken by Colvin's group to relate to them in terms of what they know: the streets of Baltimore.
We got our thing, but it's just part of the big thing.Zenobia makes this statement in Colvin's class to back up Namond, claiming that the students' drug dealing is related to the activities of larger legitimate systems.