A Ticket For Poor Kids
Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest.
I just read an inspiring article in my hometown newspaper. It has provided me with renewed hope that, if only we mustered sufficient political will, we could successfully solve one of our most important social challenges: How to improve the academic performance of poor kids?
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I regard childhood poverty as the single greatest public health menace facing our children. Like most public health threats, we have some good (albeit imperfect) solutions.
After working with inner-city children for almost a quarter of a century (ouch!), I've come to believe that the best ticket out of poverty, the ticket that allows economically disadvantaged kids to become productive members of society, the ticket to their personal fulfillment, is educational success (by that I mean at least finishing high school and, better still, going on to higher level education or training).
How can we achieve this noble but daunting goal, especially given the myriad reasons almost half of poor kids never complete high school: their underfunded, overcrowded schools, parents who neither demand nor expect school success, the myriad psychosocial issues they are dealing with, the unsafe neighborhoods, a peer culture that demeans 'brainiacs', the learned hopelessness... Pick your poisons.
One can become depressed by the intractable complexity of academic failure. It's easy to throw up your hands and declare it hopeless: let's just invest in more police, bigger prisons and unemployment benefits!
The newspaper article was about the "Say Yes to Education" project, the brainchild of a smart, caring, rich guy named George Weiss. It started over 20 years ago when, while giving a talk to a class of 6th graders in a Philadelphia inner-city school, he made the following promise: "I will pay your college tuition if you graduate high school." In the article, a 25 year old man discusses how Weiss made this same pledge to him when he was in 2nd grade and how it changed his life and the lives of the majority of his classmates.
How simple and how brilliant! Of course we need to improve our public schools. But what about enhancing a child's learning by raising her own internal motivation and aspirations? Mr. Weiss' pledge gave the students (and, of course, their parents) - at an early age - the hope and the inspiration and, most importantly, the means to attain their dreams of making it in this hard world.
The success of this simple strategy has been replicated over and over in the last two decades and gives lie to the perceived hopelessness of the situation. For you evidence wonks (I hope there are a few of you out there), below is an outcome graph you can click on (better still, go to their website, from which it is taken) showing that about 75% graduate high school (compared to the average of about 55% of economically disadvantaged kids), and about 1/2 of those continue beyond a high school education.
Feeling down in these trying times? For an inspirational pick-me-up and for instructive lessons, do yourself a favor and go the Say Yes To Education website and read about this fabulous project which now provides children with not only the promise of college, but health care and educational supports along the way.
I can't help but wonder, why aren't our federal and state departments of education following their lead? I can think of a lot of worse (and few better) ways to spend my tax dollars.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: children, education, poverty, Say Yes to Education
One can become depressed by the intractable complexity of academic failure. It's easy to throw up your hands and declare it hopeless: let's just invest in more police, bigger prisons and unemployment benefits!
**********
The newspaper article was about the "Say Yes to Education" project, the brainchild of a smart, caring, rich guy named George Weiss. It started over 20 years ago when, while giving a talk to a class of 6th graders in a Philadelphia inner-city school, he made the following promise: "I will pay your college tuition if you graduate high school." In the article, a 25 year old man discusses how Weiss made this same pledge to him when he was in 2nd grade and how it changed his life and the lives of the majority of his classmates.
How simple and how brilliant! Of course we need to improve our public schools. But what about enhancing a child's learning by raising her own internal motivation and aspirations? Mr. Weiss' pledge gave the students (and, of course, their parents) - at an early age - the hope and the inspiration and, most importantly, the means to attain their dreams of making it in this hard world.
The success of this simple strategy has been replicated over and over in the last two decades and gives lie to the perceived hopelessness of the situation. For you evidence wonks (I hope there are a few of you out there), below is an outcome graph you can click on (better still, go to their website, from which it is taken) showing that about 75% graduate high school (compared to the average of about 55% of economically disadvantaged kids), and about 1/2 of those continue beyond a high school education.
**********
Feeling down in these trying times? For an inspirational pick-me-up and for instructive lessons, do yourself a favor and go the Say Yes To Education website and read about this fabulous project which now provides children with not only the promise of college, but health care and educational supports along the way.
I can't help but wonder, why aren't our federal and state departments of education following their lead? I can think of a lot of worse (and few better) ways to spend my tax dollars.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: children, education, poverty, Say Yes to Education
6 Comments:
Interesting post. My kids know thy are expected to do well in school and go to college someday. I wonder what school is like for children who have no such expectations or hope?
Very touching, but I hope you are not implying our government should pay for college for every poor kid!?
For those who are interested, here is another wonderful project ("TEACH FOR AMERICA") in which our best and brightest college graduates agree to teach in inner-city schools for at least 2 years -with impressive reults:
http://www.teachforamerica.org/index2.htm
Thanks for the info, Dr. P. Since we are all so busy caring for and worrying about our own families, we tend to forget about the most vulnerable children in our society and how we can and should help them as we would our own kids.
"My kids know they are expected to do well in school and go to college someday. I wonder what school is like for children who have no such expectations or hope?"
I can tell you what it's like from a parent perspective of watching my middle child have no expectations or hope placed on her by the school system; for now, let's assume it's because she's black.
When my daughter started kindergarten, I had to fight to get her included at our neighborhood school. They said she was too black to be successful. Then I pushed, and despite her blackness, they saw that she did have some abilities. Sure, they sometimes had to modify because she grew up poor & didn't comprehend some things like everyone else. Sure she had some outbursts, some social issues, from growing up poor, but she did make progress. The more training and compassion the staff had for her, the more they realized, despite her challenges of being black, she is capable.
When I attend special meetings to discuss her blackness, they often ask what my expectation is for my black daughter. I tell them the same as my two white daughters, to go to college, have a career if she wants, marry if she wants, have children if she wants. To be happy and find her calling God has planned for her. They often look at me as if I don't get just how black she is.
Other friends I have have older black children. The schools here in Tennessee often try to pull out of class several times a month the middle & high school black kids for "colored olympics." They refuse to do it during the evening or weekend, when the kids won't miss class; they assume class won't matter, that they aren't smart enough to learn anything any way. They feel that the chance to show off their physical abilities during school time is a better use than educating them to graduate high school, learn a trade, or prepare them for college, but again, no expectations or hope from the schools.
I'm considering pulling her out and homeschooling her, I'm fed up with the prejudice she receives. I have to give it a couple more years though because I returned to college myself in case my black kid doesn't get the help she needs so hubby & I can ensure we are not a government-dependent family, by getting a new degree in a new field I can earn more as well as help others.
Now, go back & for every place you saw "black" replace with "autism." I like doing this little exercise to illustrate the profound frustration for families like me that our children are not assumed intelligent. Our children today are treated as the children of color were in the 1950's.
Like the parents of the '50s, I'm not asking for a miracle, I'm asking for my daughter to have a chance. What must it be like for her to see the lack of expectations or hope from her teachers?
I believe there should be no such limits placed on kids to what they can learn and achieve because its up to us as good parents first to demonstrate that kids be treated fair of all Colors and not because of preconceived notions or labels.Whether their GREEN.BLACK,or RED or White or BROWN does not matter.(only what WE as Parents,Teachers and caregivers demonstrate and Show to our kids. Than children will learn not to accept the limits or use thm as excuses for not being up "to par" because of labels that people create such as Slow Autism,Black and impovished,should not be used as excuses but a call to action to teach to all no matter what the costs or conditions,real or precieved to be real. We need to accept responsibility if not for ourselves to not assume and let those things hold us back but to at least teach our children other options are available think Positive and act.Let kids shine and encourage all children to try new/all things.
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