Mr. Canada grew up poor and through opportunities that opened for him was able to go to college and graduate school. He has been successful at various endeavors throughout his life. Instead of wallowing in the fruit of his success he has taken his connections and developed a vision of how to transform an entire neighborhood in Harlem. This neighborhood has thousands of young people in a matter of several city blocks. This vision of transformation includes a school, medical and dental services, and other support services for familes. He believes that if you are going to change the lives of the poor it will take a comprehensive approach that touches every aspect of their lives.
I was impressed by the whole presentation. When they showed the school in the neighborhood I was filled with both excitement and sadness. Excitement because they set the goal that all children will go to college. They are on track to fulfilling this promise to the kids at this school. This school has higher achievement than those of the schools in the New York Public Schools system. There is no achievement gap between the mostly African-American and Hispanic students in his school and the achievement of European-American students, even in more affluent schools. That is exciting! My sadness came when I watched the lottery for the 215 slots in next years kindergarten. The school has a little over 1000 students. Parents were visibly angry when their child was not selected. They wondered what was going to happen to their child when this school seemed to be their best hope for academic and career success. Their child would be relegated to the low quality of the local public school. What a statement that makes about the perceived quality of the neighborhood schools in poor neighborhoods in many large cities.
It made me think about the commitment that those of us who have dedicated our careers to the betterment of the lives of children. Would we dare to proclaim and make that drop dead commitment that all of our students will go to college? I know there are people who say, "Not all students should go to college!" Upon more careful examination, what they mean is that it is all right for everyone else's child not to go to college. They however, started their child out in the best preschool, moved into the neighborhood that they perceived had the best school in town, and carted their child off to every enrichment experience that they could find. For the underserved, especially African-American and Hispanic students, it is imperative that they go to college. This is an absolute necessity, not only for their well being but also for the sake of breaking the cycle of poverty, underemployment and permanent residence in the underclass. In a generation or two, their grandchildren will have the luxury of deciding whether or not they want to become a lawyer like mom or dad.
The reason that I am so emotional about this is because you have to realize the correlation between poverty and race in the U.S. It is amazing, for instance, that if you examine the percentage of students of color that are on free and reduced lunch compared to the percent of white students you will see a much larger percent of students of color are considered poor. In my former district it was something like 7 to 8 out of every 10 students of color were poor. Less than 1/3 of the European-American students were considered poor. Since the majority of students were European-American it was like pulling teeth to get people to care about the other kids. Even when you used the argument that, in time, these students would represent the majority of the future citizens of that town, it fell on deaf ears. It wasn't their children so it didn't have the same immediate impact on them.
Let's dream for a minute. What if everyone in the city felt ownership for all of the kids. What if they encouraged them and extended hope for their future to the kids. What if no one looked upon a child with disdain because they are poor, wear their pants low or look different? What if people walked up to some teen in the grocery store and said, "I am counting on you to keep the prosperity of our community going by doing well in school. I believe in you!" It sounds like something from Pollyanna, doesn't it?
Geoffrey Canada is doing this in Harlem on a scale that many would have considered impossible. He uses public and private funds and support to make this happen. Could a whole community simulate what he is doing? Could they embrace that vision and do the same thing by making a complete commitment to its young people? The greatness of a city is proportionate to what it does for those who are considered the "least" of its citizens. How great does Beloit want to be?
