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Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:32 |
 | | Roland Martin |
CHICAGO ÇƒÓ Move over, Bill Cosby, youëve got some company.
Oprah Winfrey, who made headlines this week with the opening of her $40 million, all-girls leadership academy in South Africa, is none too happy with how inner-city American kids take for granted an education.
In an interview with Newsweekës Allison Samuels, the billionaire media mogul said she has given millions of dollars to American schools, but has become disenchanted with the materialistic attitude among children.
"Say what you will about the American educational system ÇƒÓ it does work," she told Newsweek. "If you are a child in the United States, you can get an education."
She
added: "I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I
just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isnët there.
If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or
some sneakers. In South Africa, they donët ask for money or toys. They
ask for uniforms so they can go to school."
While some
focused on the good deed of her opening a school to train the next
generation of female leaders in South Africa, others focused on these
statements, angry that a women who grew up poor in Mississippi would be
so dismissive and callous in her critique of inner-city children.
My e-mail box
blew up with folks wondering why she didnët open a similar school on
the South Side of Chicago. Others called her an elitist slob who has
forgotten where she has come from. Yet a few others were flat out
ticked off by her painting the mindset of inner-city kids with a broad
brush.
While I
understand this position, and am fully aware of the serious
shortcomings of the American education system ÇƒÓ especially when you
note that many suburban schools, because of high property taxes, look
like college campuses, and those attended by mostly black and Hispanic
children are falling apart ÇƒÓ Oprah is dead-on in her assessment.
To understand
Oprahës concern ÇƒÓ and that of Cosby ÇƒÓ is to step back and realize the
most fundamental argument they are making: that education isnët seen as
the way out of a desperate situation.
When Cosby went
off two years ago as the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of
Education decision was celebrated, what was missing was the mindset of
the pre-Brown parents. A multitude of black parents in the South didnët
know how to read, some not moving past the sixth grade, but if there
was one thing that was definitely going to happen, their children were
going to get an education. It was a mantra that was virtually beaten
into the minds of black children, and thatës why we had a generation of
African Americans who exceeded far and above their parentsë wildest
dreams.
School wasnët a
choice; it was a necessity. Their books were tattered? Fine, read them
anyhow. A white teacher would tell a black child to forget being a
lawyer or a doctor? The parents would say, "The hell with ǃÚem. You will
aspire and achieve." Education was an all-consuming focus, and thatës
why the tears were shed when their children walked across the high
school graduation stage, and they pinched pennies to send them to
college.
Jesus was the way to get to heaven. Education was the way to defeat Jim Crow. Thatës the way it was in black households.
But that
attitude is missing today. Black and Hispanics ÇƒÓ who largely make up
the inner cities these days ÇƒÓ arenët so mad at our education system
that they are forcing it to shut down. Gone are the freedom days when
kids were kept out of school to protest unequal funding and instead
trained in churches and community centers. What we have today is
complaining and finger pointing, but not enough direct action to change
the situation.
If there was one
mistake Oprah made, it was that she blamed the children. Itës not their
fault. They are only repeating what they get from their parents: a
desire for material wealth, rather than something powerful and
life-altering, such as an education.
Oprah, donët
just flee to South Africa to find students who appreciate an education.
Find and continue to support similar children in America. But also use
your TV, radio and magazine platforms to speak to ÇƒÓ and scold, if
necessary ÇƒÓ the countless parents who make excuses for their children
not being able to read and write. Challenge them to step up like their
ancestors, who would read by dim lanterns, hoping for a better tomorrow.
Children must
know that dropping out isnët the answer. Refusing to "speak good
English" isnët the way to a better future. Your school system may not
have the best teachers or the top-of-the-line computers and books, but
when you put the passion and desire of parents into action, there is no
doubt our children will have a bright future ÇƒÓ and only an education
can make that possible.
ï
Roland S. Martin, editor of The Chicago Defender newspaper, is author of "Speak, Brother! A Black Manës View of America."
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