Posted on Sat, Jan. 01, 2005
Embrace the gift of education By Ron Rutledge
Fort Wayne Christian Center
Each weekday morning as I prepare my daily brew of java, I stand in awe, observing my daughter as she prepares to launch into yet another day of school. I see in her eyes a spirit of joy and excitement as she eats her breakfast of strawberry applesauce, half a bagel and a glass of orange juice.
She glances over her assigned homework one more time, then turns and gives final instructions to her mother, “Let’s go before I’m late for school!”
Being late to school means she would not make her personal deadline of arriving one hour before school begins. She explains that she needs this time to mentally prepare for the school day. “You know how an athlete needs to get acquainted with the stadium where he or she will compete, well, it’s the same principle, Dad,” she responds.
My daughter perceives school not as a prison sentence, but as an opportunity to travel grand avenues of exploration and super highways of knowledge. Did this attitude of “academic athleticism” develop in a vacuum? I think not.
Our daughter has grown up in a family where she is constantly reminded that her privilege to attend a school of choice was bought by others and given as a gift to her. She knows that her freedom to attend school was paid by people who initiated boycotts, endured beatings and unselfishly shed their blood.
She also knows that a gift deserves acknowledgement and thanks. This attitude of “remembering the price of quality education” was imprinted upon my heart by my mother, Rosaline-Brooks Rutledge, and I, in turn, have imprinted it upon the heart of my daughter.
My mother grew up in the 1940s in Perry County, a rural central Alabama community, which is near the city of Marion. A typical elementary school day would begin by boarding the local mass transportation system.
This meant that groups of black children would walk to and from school on dangerous roads. The safest route from my mother’s house to the school was two miles each way. A four-mile round trip on foot was only for those with a stubborn determination to achieve academically.
I used to make fun of my relatives for using the expression, “if the Lord is willing and the creek don’t rise.” I thought it was just a ludicrous statement. In fact, it referred to the creeks in the rural communities which would rise to dangerous levels after a major storm or rainfall. The creek would rise, making it impossible for the children to attend school.
The school my mother attended was housed in a church building where students in grades 1 to 3 were seated on one side and grades 4 through 6 were seated on the other. A cotton sheet separated the classes. A cast-iron wood stove provided heat in the winter, and open windows were the answer to central air conditioning.
After eighth grade, the community no longer provided education for black students, so my grandfather sent mother away to the historic Lincoln Normal School in Marion, where Coretta Scott King, wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was also enrolled.
Only students whose parents could afford to pay tuition were accepted at this school. In addition, my grandparents had to secure a place for my mother to live during the week, as Lincoln was many miles away from her residence. Pastors of local Marion churches solved this problem by encouraging families in their churches to accept these ambitious, though displaced teenagers, as boarders in their homes. That is how mother spent her high school years, away from her family, in pursuit of an education.
Why do I tell this story? For one reason only: to remind students of color who ride buses to school free of charge, who sit in school buildings that are heated in the winter, who eat free meals at school each day that you have no valid excuses for lingering behind academically. Excuses keep you from planning for success. Here are some suggestions for parents:
•Tell your children that you expect them to excel academically and there will be no excuses. Being mediocre is not an option.
•Make every weeknight a homework night. Have your children devote 25 minutes a day to each academic subject. Middle school and high school students might need to devote longer periods of time to subjects where grades are lower than average. When there is no assigned homework, keep a supply of grade level-appropriate library books and have your children read for one hour. Then have them write in a notebook. When they ask what they should write, say, “you decide.” Also, ask your children to teach you how to work a few math problems. They’ll be learning as they teach.
•Limit TV viewing time to 30 to 60 minutes a day during the week. Read “Gifted Hands” by Benjamin Carson M.D., to discover the treasures that will come when this rule is followed. Will you be proud to introduce your child, the neurosurgeon?
•Get acquainted with your children’s teachers. Students love parent-teacher feuds so you must avoid them. Tell your children how much you admire and support their teachers. Talk to the teacher, not your children, when you have concerns about a situation.
•Need help with your children’s academic plans of action? Ask a schoolteacher, a school counselor, or your local church pastor for advice. Don’t be ashamed to attend parenting support classes. Children attend support groups everyday while at lunch and during free time in the hallways. They pour out their hearts to their classmates and solicit advice. In this matter, let’s learn from our children.
•Hire an academic coach, a tutor, when necessary. Drive a used car and pay for a good tutor. Invest in your children.
•What about team sports? Certainly – when the grades are average and above.
My daughter’s bedroom is filled with photos of friends, relatives and current music stars. Last year, however, she added some photos depicting the aftermath of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963.
My wife, who has a difficult time looking at the pictures, wanted them removed from the wall. She told me that they were too graphic for teenage eyes and definitely should not be in a teenager’s bedroom.
One day I sat on Ronnye’s bed and looked at these pictures placed strategically so they are what she sees first in the morning and last in the evening. I waited months and then asked her about them.
Her response was clear and concise. “When I look a those pictures, I know why I work so hard at school.”
May all children of color have such understanding of the debt they owe.