Education Failure - The Dream

Martin Luther King was just a man... noble side, fallible side. He, like other noteworthy people are more remembered for their vision and public persona than their personal lives. That's fair. We should ask our leaders to be leaders, not saints. Their vision and the risks they take should overshadow their personal shortcomings.

Rev. King is probably most remembered for the speech he delivered on August 29, 1963 in Washington, D.C.... known as his "I have a dream" speech. Unfortunately, that's about all people remember... those four words. Whites forget the history behind the words; blacks forget the challenge he also spoke...

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

It is ironic that his dream that the South would change has happened and that blacks are moving back from the North. Georgia, a specific target of Rev. King's speech, has become a target place for relocation.

The problems continue to exist in the North... maybe worse than before as manufacturing jobs are lost and schools are blamed for the failure of blacks to embrace the very education process that would allow them to live and compete economically while

conduct[ing] our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline

Forty-one years later, another prominent black is again speaking out about the problems of the black community... this time with a more inward perspective. Dr. Bill Cosby... yes, that's a correct title, not just a TV title... has been touring the North with his message:

The incarceration rate of our youth is accelerating with devastating consequences for our families and neighborhoods. Children are being killed by stray bullets in territorial gang and drug wars.

Many of us feel shocked and helpless. We don't need to feel passive.

Most of these ills stem from several factors, but an important one is the lack of education of too many of our young people. Studies show a correlation between inadequate schooling and a wide range of distressing outcomes, including early death, a propensity toward violence and substance abuse.

Our children are telling us something. Why are we not listening and paying attention to the messages?

Parent power! Proper education has to begin at home. We must demand that our youth have an understanding of spoken and written English, math and science. We must transform our communities with a renewed commitment to our children, and that means parents must show that they value education. We don't need another federal commission to study the problem.

What we need now is parents sitting down with children, overseeing homework, sending children off to school in the morning well fed, clothed, rested and ready to learn.

Easier said than done, Dr. Cosby. Especially when getting an education is seen as "actin' white" by too many young blacks. The biggest education failure is the failure to convince those who need education the most to accept their need.

Dr. Cosby's message is beginning to resonate among blacks... let's hope that it gains a following.

For the truly curious: GRADUATION RATES BY STATE BY RACE