MAY 2
I have just finished talking with three Providence-St. Mel seniors who have spent the day on a student exchange at Francis Parker. Six students from each school spent a day in the other school going through a day`s schedule with a student they were each paired with.
The Providence-St. Mel students were completely smitten with the personal-freedom virus. They wanted to set up a meeting with Mr. Adams to change the dress code, eliminate most of the petty rules and regulations and introduce free periods. After a little reflection, they decided that wouldn`t be such a good idea.
Yesterday I gave two Parker students a ride home after their day at Providence-St. Mel. They were kids that I have known since they were in kindergarten, and their reflections on Providence-St. Mel focused on the warmth and friendliness of the students, the lack of tension and conflict and their feeling that Providence-St. Mel was less complicated than Parker. Allen was amazed that he never felt self-conscious being the only white in a class. Mary commented that she was worried that she would see more pressure to use drugs and alcohol in an inner-city school but found that there was probably more of this kind of pressure at Parker.
It made me feel very, very old to hear these kids talk about the two schools that I have invested so much time and energy in. These 12 students live less just a few miles from one another, yet they know little or nothing of the reality of each other`s lives. We need a lot more student exchanges.
MAY 26
I just heard that Sharod Baker, the president of the senior class and the student I prepared to take the Advanced Placement English exam, has failed four of the five courses he has been taking. He was accepted by Columbia University, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Howard, among others.
There really isn`t any difference in the pressures and responses of students in an upper-class suburb, say, Newton, Mass., in a school like Parker or in the inner city. They all are terrified of what lies ahead of them in college and of the implications of their success.
So the ”last-minute” failure pattern, especially among the most successful students, is startlingly prevalent. It is the last dramatic, public regression before finally and irrevocably becoming adults. I have always felt that this academic collapse of good students-or the defiant transgressions of responsible ones-in the last few months before graduation is a desperate cry to keep from happening this absolute thing that is pressing so hard upon them and will keep them from ever going back again.
Sharod exhibited another strength (and flaw) common to the pattern-his compulsion to do everything. In March and April he decided he wanted to write a play, so he did. He then recruited a group of friends and held three or four readings to revise and improve the play. There also were many other activities that drew him away from the four courses he failed. Interestingly, he was drawn by the challenge of the AP English exam, and he increased rather than decreased his efforts as the exam approached.
My final theory is that in every graduating class, there always are a number of students-usually diligent, responsible and talented-who, at the end of their senior year, develop an aversion to routine and completion. It is as if they sign off on the routine and their obligations just a bit too soon. Their timing is just a bit off.
Of course, in an affluent suburb or at Parker, the risks are great but not critical. For Sharod, who has received a full four-year scholarship to Columbia, the error in timing can be disastrous. That is the essence of life in the inner city. The normal vagaries of growing up in these neighborhoods are all too often fatal.
(Sharod wasn`t destroyed by his slip from grace. He received a
”qualified” score on the AP exam and went to summer school at Columbia, where he earned an A and four B`s in his courses.)
MAY 28
I gave my final exam in African-American literature yesterday and used part of a Dan Quayle speech to get my students to write about Martin Luther King. I got two very good and very different papers-one from Kristy Miller, an idealist who daily struggles with the gulf between what she believes the world can and should be, and the other from Tresnita Ivy, a much more realistic and street-smart student who hasn`t yet lost all her idealism.
The question I asked was how the students thought Martin Luther King would have responded to this statement made by Quayle on May 19 in California: ”But we have faced racism squarely, and we have made progress in the past quarter-century. The landmark civil rights bills of the 1960s removed legal barriers to allow full participation by blacks in the economic, social and political life of the nation.
”By any measure, the America of 1992 is more egalitarian, more integrated and offers more opportunities to black Americans and all other minority group members than the America of 1964. . . . All of us can be proud of our progress.”
Kristy, the idealistic, dedicated Christian answered: ”If Dr. King were alive today, I believe he would say, `You ask me, my brothers and sisters, are you pleased with your progress?` The first thing that comes to my mind is, yes. Yes, `they allow us` to go to some very substantial schools. Yes, `they allow us` to walk `almost` anywhere we want. Yes, `they allow us` to get `just about` any job we want. Yes, this is progress. But when I really concentrate on the situation and think about how it should be instead of how it is and compare the two, the government`s `some,` `almost` and `just abouts` are not good enough. As I recall, the civil rights movement was not about `allowing`
us to do anything but giving us that respectable choice.
”If you really think about it, our progress is none. Yes, maybe the blacks are a class higher than what we used to be. But mentally we are in the same position as we were in slavery. Back then, we had to ask the `masters`
for a privilege and `sometimes,` only `sometimes` they would allow us that privilege.
”Sounds familiar, doesn`t it? Of course it does. Because it is the exact same thing that is happening today. We have to ask the government for a privilege, and sometimes they will allow that privilege.
”About a week ago, Vice President Dan Quayle made a speech saying, `The landmark civil rights bills of the 1960s removed legal barriers to allow participation by blacks in the economic, social and political life of the nation.` Yes, the civil rights bill was supposed to allow us these privileges, but evidently it didn`t.
”Economically, there are more blacks out of jobs, including blacks with college degrees and Ph.D.s than ever before. Socially, the black neighborhoods and cities are falling apart, but will the government help? Politically, in the city of Chicago, there has only been one elected black mayor. There has been only one black governor in the United States throughout its history. Last but definitely not least, there has never been a black president. Now you reflect on where we stand and ask yourself, `Do I think that we have progressed?` ”
Tresnita, the street-smart and more realistic student, wrote:
”Martin Luther King would not have been proud of our progress because we really haven`t made that much progress. OK, so maybe we did accomplish one thing, and that is to be free or equal to the whites. After all of that fighting to have the same rights as whites, we have done nothing to actually prove we are equal to them. We wanted to have a say-so on how the economy is run, but all we have actually done is sit there and take part in our own people`s death.
”Socially, we have complained about how the whites and some blacks have run our city and country. We have complained to the whites for being unfair and to the blacks for just sitting there. Politically, we waste money, millions running for an office so we can just sit there and be able to tell our grandchildren that we were elected for this office and we had some say-so on how the country was run but didn`t say anything because we were afraid of the whites!
”Some people may think that what Martin Luther King wanted to happen is happening, but it`s not. He wanted us to create a sound economy where blacks helped blacks and did not contribute more to the whites than was needed. Martin wanted us to help each other out socially and not kill each other off.”
MAY 29
Harvey Gross, the director of admissions and teacher of law and economics, has just resigned. I had gotten small indications from Paul that he might leave, but his actual letter to the faculty and staff caught everybody by surprise. He has been at Providence-St. Mel for more than 15 years.
The really difficult aspect of Harvey`s job as director of admissions is that he is on the frontier between the life and culture of the streets and the disciplined and purposeful ethos of the school. Getting parents to complete applications and getting schools to send in transcripts in the inner city is often a nightmare.
Further, Harvey is responsible for the need-based scholarship program. Last year the school gave about $150,000 in need-based scholarships and about $250,000 in all scholarships, grants and awards. Each of these requires that parents file financial-aid forms spelling out their income. In neighborhoods where the underground economy dominates, this is often nearly impossible. All of these pressures take their toll, and my guess is that Harvey finally decided to do something else.
MAY 31
Today was Providence-St. Mel`s graduation, and being there was an extraordinary experience. First of all, there were some 1,500 people in the auditorium. I was on the stage, and there wasn`t an empty seat in the house.
There was a dignity and pride in the graduates and their parents that was new and refreshing to me. The boys on the track team that came in fifth in the state all wore the medals they had just won the day before. My Parker graduations were always tinged with student self-consciousness and a small portion of anti-authority defiance. At Providence-St. Mel, there was a unity in the excitement, pride and sense of accomplishment shared by parents, students and all the others who were there.
There were three outstanding parts of the graduation ceremonies. The first was the rendition of ”It`s So Hard To Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” sung by a small group of seniors. The girls involved were the stars of the choir, but the boy who sang the solo hadn`t been featured in any of the concerts. They all sang with spirit and soul, and the audience was right with them.
I have given countless speeches and presided at 24 graduations, but this is the first time that I have felt that the graduates, the parents and the audience were passionately and enthusiastically involved. There was a power being passed to the graduates and also an expectation that was very real and very potent.
The other two outstanding parts were speeches. Chiquita Moore, the valedictorian, delivered hers with such grace and conviction that the audience gave her a standing ovation at the end.
She was followed by Irene Smith, a Providence-St. Mel`s 1975 graduate, a writer of short stories who is just finishing a novel. Her speech picked up where Chiquita`s left off. It was special because it addressed the question of the black community`s overpowering expectations of the graduates.
JUNE 15
In the two weeks since school ended, a number of people have asked me about the feelings and attitudes of Providence-St. Mel students, about the demands the school makes on them and the path to mainstream success they are embarking on.
The question is a tricky one because just behind it is the assumption that they are being led into a situation where they can`t really compete and the implication that whatever success the students achieve is mostly hype.
I remember an interview I had with a Chicago public school principal who was nearing retirement several years ago. At the end of the interview, she told me her three children had all graduated from one of the best north suburban high schools and said, ”We couldn`t really expect these children to compete with hers.” I was appalled but realized that her attitude was common among whites.
The students at Providence-St. Mel are a marvelous mixture of pride, confidence, anxiety and uncertainty born of distrust. There are a number of areas where the students at Providence-St. Mel are supremely confident. In athletics, especially basketball and track, both the boys and girls thirst for competition because they are proud of their ability and confident they can do well.
Underneath the pride and confidence of the students, there is deep-seated conviction that despite their ability and skill, they are going to be duped, put down and cheated by the system. It would be paranoia if there weren`t so many examples of their fears becoming reality.
The other area of enormous confidence is music. The boy who soloed with the eight girls (all of whom were award-winning members of the chorus) at the graduation ceremonies was a successful athlete with no reputation as a singer. After graduation, I heard a teacher say to him, ”I didn`t know that you could sing.” His response was, ”Of course I can sing.”
The students at Providence-St. Mel have a powerful gift for public speaking. Most of them have been brought up in the black churches of the West Side and intuitively know the rhythms and cadences of public speaking and the sermon. I have heard some 15 to 20 student speeches this year, and even the ones given by 5th-graders were among the most impressive I have ever heard from students. A remarkable number of students have a deep confidence in their ability to move an audience and to speak with purpose and effect.
In academics, the students at Providence-St. Mel feel a paradoxical mixture of pride, confidence, uncertainty and hesitancy. They are confident in their basic ability to learn and do almost any academic task. They are gun-shy about whether they are going to be evaluated fairly and even whether they are being taught the right thing.
Many students will come out and say that they have believed and trusted teachers only to find their grades didn`t mean anything and they weren`t prepared for the competition. This is the area of greatest student
vulnerability. There is an enormous pool of talent in these inner-city students, but they have also developed deep defenses against betrayal that often prevent them from learning.
If a white teacher can convince the students at a school such as Providence-St. Mel that they know he or she is really teaching them and is fair, there is no end of what students will do for such a teacher. If, on the other hand, a teacher proves to be subjective and erratic in grading student work or doesn`t know what he or she is doing, then the students will resist everything that that teacher tries to do.
The great success of Providence-St. Mel is that the program has gained the trust and confidence of the students. With that trust, there is almost no limit to what the students are willing to do and to learn.
