Why Opportunity Doesn't Guarantee Success

Throughout the year 2011, there has been a consistent buzz around social equity, the disappearing middle class, and the prosperity of the "1%" (all related issues). American politics (and politicians) hang in the balance as the economy waivers, and angry 99-percent-ers post up in your local park to protest. In light of all the madness, it is only appropriate that the pot be stirred enough to warrant a heated battle in 2012.

On December 12, 2011, Forbes released an earthquake of an article whose reverberations were felt with every share on Facebook and retweet. "If I Were A Poor Black Kid." Gene Marks, author, responds to President Obama's speech on social inequity a few weeks ago in motivational, accusatory, brilliant, ignorant rhetoric.

"...If I was a poor black kid I would first and most importantly work to make sure I got the best grades possible. I would make it my #1 priority to be able to read sufficiently.   I wouldn't care if I was a student at the worst public middle school in the worst inner city.  Even the worst have their best.  And the very best students, even at the worst schools, have more opportunities." 

Opportunities. The golden opportunity. The opportunity of a lifetime. That's what determines if we are successful, right? The exposure to the chance to exhibit excellence should put the keys to life in reach. That's the perception. What we generally fail to realize is that opportunity is EVERYWHERE. But greatness isn't everywhere. 

The Washington Post has been running a story of an amazing social experiment that is flipping a common theory, that opportunity = success, on its head. The Seat Pleasant 59 is a group of 59 students who, in 1988, were each granted the gift many only dream about: a free college education. The only contingency? Go to college. The Post took a look at these 59 students to find out where they are now. Eleven students attained four-year degrees from a college or university. Just eleven. That means forty-eight students who were given the opportunity to create their own avenues academically, failed to do so. 

This is not an isolated occurrence, though. Since 1993, students in the state of Georgia meeting certain requirements of merit have in-state tuition waved as part of the HOPE Scholarship program. What an opportunity to be in control of your own financial destiny during a time where most kids are living off ramen noodles! But here's the reality: only 3 of 10 students never lose HOPE. And those seven aren't very likely to get back in good graces. 

"Few students regain HOPE if they lose it. Of the 24,496 students who entered a University System college in fall 2004 with the scholarship, 10,439 lost it after their first year. Only 972 students regained it the following year." - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Why is the correlation between opportunity and success so low? Because like any equation, there are a plethora of factors that come into play when calculating the probability of a child's success in life. A free ride to college doesn't guarantee graduation, just like a school with 98% of 3rd graders proficient in reading doesn't guarantee your 3rd grader won't be in the remaining 2%. Real intervention requires a cultural and environmental revamp. Real intervention requires empowerment of students with confidence, goals, and the skills and resources (not just the finances) to attain those goals.

School reform increases the chance that our students will be successful, but is that the best we can hope for? A half-loaded die? Until the responsibility for our children's success coincides with a responsibility for each child's success, "opportunity" will only translate to success for those who have developed the mindset to achieve. If I were a poor black kid... I'd pray.

Perception vs. Reality

“Are schools really that bad? I did aight, and people say my school ‘sucks.’”

How easy is it to relate to that thought process as an alumni, parent, or student? Very easy. I’ve fallen victim myself. I graduated with honors from a school colloquially termed, “Ghettocreek.” I lived in the blissful realm as the principal’s kid in AP and gifted classes, and I’ll tell anyone my school was amazing. After all, just look at me! In statistics, that is known as a sampling error. While doing some research for the expansion of the BKCL academic mentor program, I saw something very disconcerting.

Perusing target areas for struggling schools is the particular methodology of choice for BKCL market analysis, and finding inner city schools with less than amazing test scores isn’t very difficult, believe it or not. (If you want to know how a school is performing, I recommend www.greatschools.org.) School quality is determined by test scores, of course; however, at schools with 60% 3^rd grade proficiency in English, parents comment that the school is “one of the best learning institutions I’ve ever experienced.” To put that into perspective, 40% of the 3^rd grade kids at that great learning institution can’t use pronouns, write in cursive, or use a dictionary.

At one of our schools, we asked the students, who were selected by the principal for the academic mentorship program, to write autobiographies, and we received submissions from authors with a wide range of varying skill. There were some though, that were nearly illegible. 5^th grade writing that didn’t have any structure or flow… or punctuation.

… in case you thought I was just being dramatic. This isn’t representative of all the students at the school, or even in the program. But now, I have put a face to the 10% when I read “90% proficient in writing.” I can’t live with 90% when the other 10% can’t spell NBA.

Enough talk. Help us do something. Sign up to be a mentor: www.blackkidscanlearn.org under “Academic Improvement.” Show these kids that they can learn.

Today It Begins!

The original launch date for was set for October, and we may have missed it before... but we won't miss it again! Our first academic mentorship program kicks off at Centennial Place Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia with 12 African-American kids who are eager to get the first taste of the BKCL experience. I keep having the same dream where Black Kids CAN Learn is pioneering the fight for minority education in revolutionary ways. Our parents have battled for our education, and their parents before them. With the advent of cutting-edge communication enhancement, Generation Y has all the tools necessary to take the fight to an uncharted battlefield. Talk is cheap, however, and BKCL fully intends to provide more than friendly suggestions. So, when those kids get to meet their mentors for the first time, I can guarantee, you'll see it in their eyes...

Occupy Your Mind

Over the past couple of weeks the Occupy Wall Street demonstration has been prevalent in the media and has spread to several major cities the world over. These protesters are taking a stand against corporate greed and economic inequality. They are demonstrating against the capitalist system that appears to be leading to an increasingly larger gap between the wealthy and the poor.

The ultimate goal of these protesters are to have better lives for themselves and their loved ones. What is ironic is that the demand which is arguably most crucial to a better life is not getting much attention compared to the other demands regarding things that will ultimately be out of the hands of the individuals. You guessed it, education. According to Occupy Wall Street's voting results page, "free education Kindegarten through college" is ranked twelfth, and it is the only education related demand amongst the top 27 currently ranked for inclusion in the official demands.

While it is still not a number to be proud of by any means, the unemployment rate through 2010 for the college educated (those with at least a bachelors degree), at 4.7%, is less than half of the rate for those who do not have degrees, 10.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the most basic evidence there is that a college education substantially increases employability. So why isn't education a more focal issue of the protests and their demands, if it displays such a clear and strong correlation with the economic success that these demonstrators claim to be fighting for? Why aren't they more granular with their demands for educational improvements? "Free education," aside from being very broad and bearing dramatic implications for the economy, not all of which would be positive, does nothing to address the quality of education provided, which will ultimately determine the ability of future leaders to productively administrate societal and economic institutions.

These protests either implicitly or explicitly make the economic divide an "us versus them" issue between the rich and the not rich. I'd bet that the rich do not view the economic inequality in America as a matter of them versus the poor. They are more concerned with keeping themselves rich than they are with keeping those who are not rich from becoming so. Their goals are not to stay rich... and keep others poor. It takes a stretch of the imagination to picture someone who is immensely wealthy harboring ill will against any number of poor people rising into the ranks of the rich, especially if it is not at their expense.

Perhaps the educational system is to blame for the majority, if not all, of the problems being addressed now. It is well known that the majority of these wealthy and powerful decision makers matriculate through a very concentrated group of educational institutions, considered to be the elite program providers. These universities and many of the programs that aspire to send students to them are very close-knit, and share many similar paradigms. What if, using a bottom-up approach, we could filter a more diverse set of leaders up through the system and eventually have the decisions that created this economic and cultural divide being made by people with different backgrounds and value systems? Maybe that's looking a little far ahead, but, in the immediate future, the quality of education and the number of people acquiring a quality education is a simple and seemingly overlooked issue relevant to this problem of economic inequality. Instead of occupying Wall Street or our nearest metropolitan areas, maybe we should focus more on the youth and ourselves occupying our minds, and occupying our universities... to learn. Then that way we can occupy business centers... with occupations.

It's a start.

Previews Released For BKCL!

BKCL Is Now In Session!

Welcome! This is the official blog of Black Kids Can Learn, an organization dedicated to improving the state of secondary education in America with a targeted focus on minority and underserved institutions. We are currently a small team based in Atlanta, GA with ambitious plans for growth and community outreach. Here you will find a variety of posts related to our cause along with information that you may find interesting, as well as more details about the BKCL outfit. We look forward to interacting with you and collaborating to collectively raise the standards of our educational system.

"A liberal education is at the heart of a civil society, and at the heart of a liberal education is the act of teaching. "
- A. Bartlett Giamatti, former president of Yale University