Many people wonder why today’s
young men are not motivated or engaged in their education. Is it the fault of the parent? Is it the
fault of the school? Is it the fault of the young man? Of course all three share some blame, but
should we begin to consider another member to blame: our State and Federal representatives? With all the budget cuts, layoffs and school
closures in public education, many students have come to believe legislators
don’t care about their education. A
perfect example of this can be seen in a comment made by a State Representative
from Oklahoma last April.
Addressing the expansion of
Oklahoma’s Promise Program which provides post-secondary scholarships to qualified
students living in economically distressed communities, the State
Representative made the following statement in a debate to the Legislature over
the bill:
“They {the Legislature}
have no responsibility to ensure students have
access to a college education[i].”
The
State Representative continued this belief in an e-mail exchange with a
legislative colleague when discussing an academically talented student young
man who did not have enough money to pay for college. The Representative stated:
“It is not our job to
see that anyone gets an education. It is
not the
responsibility of me,
you, or any constituent in my district to pay for
another persons
education…their potential to benefit society is
irrelevant[ii].”
It is this type of belief that
discourage young men to become motivated and engaged in school. During a time when young men are being told
they have to go to college in order to get a job and succeed in society, they
are seeing college graduates unable to secure a job and living at home with
huge student loan debt, you can see how easily some stud can learn not to care
about their education.
Luckily, President Obama has created
the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative to help young men and young men of color
become motivated and reengage in their education and take control of their
lives. By addressing the obstacles young
men and young men of color face such as access to male role models, abuse of
drugs, truancy and involvement in the juvenile justice system, it is believed
young men and young men of color will be able to become successful adults.
Programs and initiatives that focus
on young men and young men of color comes at a time when young men of color are
under attack and being murdered for “looking” like they are about commit a crime
when walking home from the store to the “appearance” their music is too loud by
a community of individuals who have embraced bias and stereotypes about young
men of color.
By embracing all young men,
hopefully My Brother’s Keeper will break the cycle of generational bias and
stereotypes and initiate a new generation of young men who refuse to continue
the cycle of hate and intolerance and embrace the idea of equal access and
opportunity for all men. Maybe then
young men and young men of color will reach their potential in school.
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