Gerard Robinson
Gerard Robinson, Executive Director, Center for
Advancing Opportunity, writes:
Any
discussion about society, poverty or class is
incomplete without
education as a fundamental marker.
Today’s debates over violence,
budgets, jobs, and
national security are hollow without recognizing that
absent a quality education, no American has a chance
to impact these
issues, or benefit from policies designed
to solve the most pernicious
issues of the day.
I
know. Growing up in Los Angeles were three avenues
one could follow
toward the future: violence,
academics, and sports. Although my parents
wanted the academic path, I had other plans. Sports
was going to give me
the life I wanted for myself
- athletic scholarships that would pay for
my college
education and provide opportunities for me to
become a
professional athlete bringing the literal
fame and fortune that I
desperately wanted.
Then
I got hurt my senior year of high school. And like
so many of us, my
best laid plans were
interrupted. The opportunities I wanted were
suddenly gone. Because I was focused on sports
and not academics in
school, I was stuck. My
indifference to school and learning, no real
knowledge,
skills or proficiencies of any type, all proposed the
proverbial question of “Now what?”
For
me, the answer was El Camino Community
College in Torrance, California.
I worked as a box boy at
Ralph’s Grocery Store and started classes at
El Camino
where I promptly failed the math and English placement
exams.
(One could argue I should never have
graduated high school in such a
condition… many of us
still do). It was a struggle. I was academically
far
behind many classmates. In essence, I was doing high
school as a
college student.
So
there I was - a statistic. A black man in college
but not prepared at
all for the academic rigor higher
education presents us. I watched my
peers not struggle
through freshman year. I watched them participate
in
class discussions with background knowledge that I
didn’t even know
existed. The knowledge gap was real.
But
El Camino offered me exactly the opportunities I
needed to improve
myself at exactly the time I needed
them. California’s community
colleges happen to
have been strong at that time. The grit I
developed
by persevering and the remedial
coursework allowed me to get my
Associate of Arts
degree in three years. Without that, I would not have
had the opportunity to move to Washington, DC
to earn a Bachelor of Arts
degree from Howard
University. And without my BA from Howard, I would
not have had the chance to earn a Master of
Education from Harvard.
I
do not offer this up as an “If-I can-do-it-anybody-
can” Horatio Alger
tale – although if it serves that
purpose, too, fine with me. I offer
it, more importantly,
to point out that so much in life, and virtually
everything in education – from young children in
elementary school
through adults in need of new skills
training – comes down to
opportunities; opportunities
they need to access a high-quality
education.
For
elementary and secondary school students,
that means ensuring quality
learning opportunities
within and outside of our traditional schools and
school
districts. Magnet schools, dual enrollment programs,
and career
and technical learning centers in the
case of the former; charter
schools and scholarships
for private schools latter. The beauty of
charters is that
they offer opportunities for learning to many
students
placed at-risk that are often desperately needed and do
not
exist in some traditional public school districts.
Perhaps access to a
charter school would have
ensured I mastered the learning I needed in
high
school and accelerated my course. I was lucky. Millions
more are
not. The parental choice ecosystem --
scholarship tax credits, education
savings accounts,
and virtual learning opportunities -- all must be on
the
table to ensure that all educational opportunities are
available
families that need them most.
I
believe we must also ensure greater access to new
kinds of educational
pathways which ensure new
skills and training, apprenticeship and
workforce
programs, both publicly and privately funded.
There are
community colleges that offer the kind of
accessible, affordable
learning that opens innumerable
doors to future success. We must ensure
that the
great ones thrive, and insist that those that fail to
deliver
on solid outcomes improve. The same is true
for all post-secondary
institutions.
That
is why I am focused today on faculty and
students at Historically Black
Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs) by supporting the research,
scholarships, campus conversations, data, and
convening thought leaders,
activists and students
at an annual summit. As such, we have
successfully
invested in and launched three research centers --
one each
at Winston-Salem State University,
Texas Southern University, and
Albany State
University -- to develop research-based solutions
to the
most challenging issues in education, criminal
justice, and
entrepreneurship. We believe our
constituency is people living in
fragile communities
and they are members of all races, ethnicities, and
religions. Our work is part of creating an
environment where quality
education is available
and accessible from preschool through
post-secondary institutions, where opportunities
abound, so that every
student can achieve their
dreams.
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