LearnmoreMN Blog

Moving Towards an Equitable Educational System

By Gerald Timian, November guest blogger

Educators and those of us who are working to increase college access and career success for low-income and working-class students need to develop strategies that help these students gain the social skills and institutional savvy to be successful.

In my November post, “When Prometheus’ Fire Isn’t Enough,” I talked about my brother and his struggle to make the cultural shifts necessary to make the most of his college education.

Continuing on that theme, let’s probe deeper to understand what advantages middle-class students bring to their college and university experience that are part of their unconscious social patterns and help them have success in school.

First, let me say that I know that many of my statements to follow are generalizations and there are low-income and working-class students who beat the odds and are successful in college. My use of these generalizations is to illustrate that too many of these students start down the path of higher education and never reach the finish line.

Many middle-class children begin performing for adults outside of their families at very young ages — dance and piano recitals, sports teams, and so on. Participating in these activities teaches youth that what they do is important to adults and that they are entitled to adult time, talent, and understanding.

Low-income and working-class youth often have fewer expectations from adults. They have been raised to listen to adults and not to question their authority.

What impact do these two very different expectations have on a youth’s college education? My children were raised in a middle-class neighborhood with neighbors who were academics. They saw these neighbors mowing their lawns; they played with their children, heard them tell bad jokes and called them by their first names. In other words, they saw them as people and caring adults. When my children went off to college they were not intimidated by their professors because they saw them as caring adults, not unlike their own parents.

Oftentimes, the only interaction low-income youth have with middle-class people is in some type of formal role; this group is usually limited to teachers, police officers, social workers and ministers. The youths interact with this group of people in a formal manner and see them as authority figures.

When these students enter college they see professors and instructors not as caring adults but as authority figures with a great deal of power over their lives. My children wouldn’t give it a second thought to go to a professor’s office and expect to have all their questions answered until they had an understanding of the material. However, low-income students may be too intimidated to ask for personal help and if they do ask for help they listen with respect and do not ask follow-up questions to get the clarity they need to master the material.

How do colleges and universities have to change their approach so low-income students can begin to see their professors and instructors as older colleagues and guides who are involved in similar educational and intellectual pursuits?

Multiple studies show that low-income and working-class students are more confident and comfortable in the company of peers. I know in my own situation that my mentor treated me like a younger colleague, challenging me to take on difficult ideas.

Another advantage middle-class youth have is that their parents are more likely to spend time with them problem solving. A middle-class youth can go to his or her parents with questions and in most cases the parent will answer the question with another question, which helps their child go deeper into the issue. This in turn puts the child in a position to explore the issues from many angles. Eventually children in these situations come to their own solution to the question.

Because middle-class kids have greater odds of participating in performance activities from such an early age they have an understanding of doing and redoing until they have the skills perfected under the scrutiny of caring adults. When they go off to college they have the patience and persistence to work and rework their writing. They understand the concept of the first draft.

One of my biggest frustrations when visiting a museum or art gallery is that the artist’s finished work is on display and you never see the multiple drafts and failed pieces. I wish I could take students to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It is a fascinating, multilevel gallery designed to show the works of Van Gogh from his earliest sketches to his later masterpieces. For me, the most interesting pieces in the museum were his early works, which were mediocre, and you cannot imagine that from that body of work a master artist would develop.

To be able to help students understand that their first attempt does not have to be the finished one is one of the great insights of their educational journey.

Given that most professors and instructors come from the upper and middle classes, it is important that we continue to educate them about the needs and perspectives of students from low-income and working-class backgrounds. These are the students they increasingly will be seeing in their classrooms.

I have asked a researcher from the University of Minnesota to begin a series of interviews with low-income and working-class students to get a better understanding of how these students see themselves becoming successful in college and in their careers.

My hope is that this information will give us new insights into how to create a democratic and equitable educational system for the 21st century.

When Prometheus' Fire Isn't Enough

By Gerald Timian, November guest blogger

When Prometheus stole fire from Zeus for humans, he taught humans the arts of civilization — writing, mathematics, agriculture, medicine, and science. In today's society, Prometheus' fire is represented in the education we get by attending college.

Presumably when students have finished college, they have the knowledge and skills to begin a profession or career. But knowledge and skill are not enough to get by the gatekeepers. People must have the other trappings of the middle class to have the door opened.

My older brother was the first in our family to go to college. My father was a foundry worker and my mother was a waitress. They believed in the American Dream and that their boys would go to college.

My brother was a good student who received a teaching degree in History and Geography. He lived at home and put himself through school. Every evening after dinner when he and I were doing dishes, he would give me a lecture on history, geography, or current events. The topics were wide ranging — everything from the Armenian genocide to the history of Bolivia.

My brother was a passionate and knowledgeable teacher, but he was never able to break into the field. He received enough rejection letters to wallpaper a house. Like Martin Luther King Jr. he was able to see the Promised Land but was never able to enter.

When my brother died at the age of 41, he was making $8.50 an hour and working 60 hours a week as a short order cook. He spent his money on classes, books, beer and cigarettes. He was always hopeful that with just the right additional class, he could make another attempt at the Promised Land. Why was it that he was never able to get that career opportunity?

He was smart and well educated in his field. What he lacked were the other trappings of the middle class — he was unable to make the cultural shifts necessary to get by the gatekeepers. His language was not the language of the middle class.

At the University of Minnesota, he struggled to find a mentor who could show him the underlying rules of the middle class. He also lacked the ability to cut the ties that bound him to family, neighborhood and class. These anchors give a young person the stability they need to thrive but they are also a double-edged sword. They can pull you down when you are trying to make the leap to the middle class. The anchor ropes are so intertwined that if you cut one that is holding you back, you damage the others and are not able to return home again. You risk becoming the "other" in your parents’ home.

Unlike my brother, I was fortunate to find a professor at the University who took an interest in me. He invited me to his home to have dinner with his family. He schooled me on the ways of the middle class and invited me to parties to watch them discuss the world. He sent me on endless interviews of physicians, educators, business people and bureaucrats to listen and learn and understand their rules. When the time came to begin a career, I had learned enough about the middle class to fool the gatekeepers and begin a career.

College access programs represent a significant trend in education today. My concern with these programs stems from my own family's experience.

Helping low-income and working class students reach college is an admirable goal, but helping them achieve their full potential while there is quite another. It is not enough just to get young, low-income kids into college. What higher education needs to understand is that more and more students are going to need support systems and relationships with mentors so they can begin to understand how the middle class world operates and how to work toward success.

Historically, colleges and universities have assumed that by the time students enter college, they are young adults capable of managing both their educational and personal lives. However, students need more than a cursory understanding of middle class systems and structures in order for them to be successful in college and in future careers.

How do we identify the types of supports certain students need in higher education and then how do we go about creating the networks of people who can provide those essential supports for students' success?

This needs to be a combined effort on the part of colleges and universities and those programs designed to help low-income students obtain access to higher education. In other words, the supports must continue beyond gaining entrance.

Keeping kids focused on the destination

By Kathleen O'Donnell, July guest blogger

In late June, while most kids were just settling into summer, Destination 2010 students came together to prepare for the final leg of their K-12 journey. Their third annual summer weekend retreat was held at Camp Saint Croix with the theme of Rising to the Challenge and Exceeding Expectations.

Destination 2010 is an initiative of The Minneapolis Foundation designed to help a cohort of students graduate on time (in 2010) and pursue higher education — while sharing lessons learned along the way. Instead of creating new programs, the initiative weaves together existing resources to provide information, opportunities, and support to the students, the majority of whom are low-income students of color, and many of whom will be the first in their families to attend college. The program also conducts campus tours, connects kids with summer enrichment activities (and underwrites the costs), and offers many other activities to keep kids involved, focused, and achieving year round.

It’s an unusual program for its size and scope — launched in 2001, every 3rd grader in seven struggling Minneapolis and Saint Paul public schools was invited to participate. Every student who remained continuously enrolled in the two districts would receive a $5,000 or $10,000 scholarship to pursue post-secondary education. As they prepare to enter their senior year, 185 students remain in the program. This includes 40% of the original 364 students, along with students in another program who merged with Destination 2010 midstream.

The high attrition rate underscores the fact that mobility has posed the same challenges to Destination 2010 as it has to the school system itself. And the effect on the students can be devastating. We’ve witnessed first-hand the corrosive effects of mobility on relationships over time, on access to information and opportunities, and on academic success.

On the flip side, one of our greatest successes has been the ability to keep students on our radar who might have otherwise fallen off. For many students, the identity of being in Destination 2010 has transcended time and place. We’ve been able to maintain relationships with some students through homelessness, multiple moves, family upheaval, and time in the juvenile justice system.

Another significant challenge has been the need to constantly combat the pull of low expectations — both from external sources and within the students themselves — especially among so-called ‘average” students. Generally speaking, high-performing low-income students (those who are “beating the odds”) garner attention. Students viewed as average or underperforming often pass under the radar of efforts to nurture college aspirations. Yet even as Destination 2010’s approach has been to set the same high goals for all students, that vision hasn’t necessarily taken root for every single student or family.

And, honestly, for some students, the barriers can seem overwhelming. It can be very challenging to continue to hold high expectations and demand accountability for our students, when we’re aware of the difficulties and instability in their personal lives. It’s a balancing act for everyone who teaches young people to strive to achieve amid stressful circumstances.

Fortunately, we work in close partnership with the families, community programs, and school leadership and staff. To connect most effectively with the students and their families, a group of Destination 2010 liaisons who reflect the diversity of our students serve as the primary contacts. The liaisons have built relationships that open the door for tough conversations about what it will take to get into higher ed. They work with the students, but also help families navigate the roadmap to higher education (financial aid applications, appropriate pre-college class selections, etc.). They even keep family phone numbers current...not a small task. They keep our students encouraged and connected; keep the families informed, involved, and empowered; and have helped make Destination 2010 a diverse yet cohesive community of students striving to achieve.

Destination2010 student Rakeem has reflected, "I have been through a lot of programs in my life due to certain circumstances, but D2010 is by far my favorite. I look forward to seeing my friends and fellow students doing something productive and so serious about their lives to come. I see so many of my peers throwing their lives away with drugs and what not. I have made the choice to do something better and I feel that the decision I have made is the right one. Well, I am aware of my surroundings and I am capable of getting to my destination, are you?”

Question to readers: What strategies have you found to be successful in keeping students connected through achievement programs that aren’t necessarily focused on a specific school, neighborhood, or activity?

The power of volunteering

By Tiffany Hasbrouck, February guest blogger

Last spring, a few individuals at Deloitte & Touche LLP, including myself, got together to commence a volunteer program to help students with areas such as resume writing, interview skills, and college and career searching (you know, items you need to know, but not necessarily “subjects” in school). After months of tweaking the curriculum, we had established what we thought would be a segway for students about to enter the “real” world.

You see, I came from a volunteering background. Meals on Wheels, Canned Food Drives, and Halloween Parties for the little kids were second nature growing up. I love to help people in any way I can. However, I was a bit nervous, as to how individuals (some older than myself) were going to perceive random people coming into their classroom to teach them “life skills.” This was new to me.

How WRONG I was!

My most memorable experience with teaching our curriculum was week six “College & Job Search.” I entered the first MN school, noting students were very diverse. In fact, for the most part, English was possibly the third or fourth language spoken. We proceeded to teach the students how to use the MCIS program, which was a segway to learning all about how interests translated to majors, careers, salary, and success. Most of the students were very responsive! They couldn’t believe how helpful and interesting this was.

However, there was one student who didn’t perceive this well. You could see that “Johnny” thought all of this was irrelevant to him. He thought he didn’t like anything that would translate into a major or a career. So I approached Johnny. After taking the time to sit and talk with him, I learned that he loved music, cars, and working with his hands. But what he didn’t understand, prior to our talk, was that there were MULTIPLE successful majors and careers for him. Yes, he might not have been the type that was going to sit at a desk job from 9-5, but that’s OKAY! I told Johnny about my close friend who reminded me exactly of him. He wasn’t very interested in a desk job, but when he found that a school close to Minneapolis was a place for majors in auto mechanics, with specialty in car detailing he was set.

Johnny and I searched the MCIS system for interests of his, in which he noted over 5 different majors and schools that would allow him to work in a field he had a passion for. What a crazy thought to him! The hour that we had together seemed to put a spark in Johnny's attitude and a skip in his step. How could this be? There WAS a place for him out there? What I was delighted to learn was that Johnny even applied for one of the schools that we had found that day!

It never ceases to amaze me the power that volunteering has to help others. I think it is so positive that our MN schools are allowing organizations and groups to come into the classroom and try to further enhance and help students one at a time.

Preparing young women for success

By Debra Pridgen, October guest blogger

My mother has repeatedly stated to me throughout my life that, “experience is the greatest teacher.” I have the privilege of working for an organization that provides a vast array of experiential learning opportunities for girls and women. Yes, it is the Girl Scouts. I was a Girl Scout as a girl and then being a mother of four lovely daughters, my past Girl Scouting experience came full circle to be shared in my role as the leader for them and many of their girl friends. How time flies; I’ve been employed with the Girl Scouts for 12 years now.

Some people ask why there is a need for an all girl organization. Nearly a century ago, Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low recognized that developing girls’ leadership abilities was critical for ensuring they would be the positive change-makers of the future. Since Low’s time, the world has changed dramatically. This ever more complex and uncertain world clearly requires ongoing experience, education, and leadership of a new kind.

Recent research shows that girls want opportunities where they can learn by doing and have cooperative learning experiences. Girl Scouts provides these opportunities and helps girls develop skills and a strong sense of self. When coupled with academic learning and positive experiences in school, girls are well-prepared to succeed.

We know about the power of programs like Girl Scouts that support young people. I’d like to hear your thoughts about how we can do more:

—How do we expand opportunities to support kids beyond school?
—How can more volunteers and mentors get involved?

Focusing on the positive

By Jenny Wright, July guest blogger

When we challenge ourselves to take an approach to young people that builds on strengths and opportunities rather than focusing on problems and deficits, wonderful things can happen. Each year we take our Beacons youth from eight Minneapolis Public Schools out to a Citywide Youth Leadership Camp Retreat at YMCA Camp Iduhapi. Youth learn leadership skills, practice teamwork through high ropes course challenges, and plan service projects to complete back in their neighborhoods and schools. 

There is one story that we hear again and again. It goes something like this: 

The youth development workers from the Beacon Center always choose at least one young person for the Leadership Retreat who is not usually viewed as a “leader.”  These young people might struggle with academics and behavior in the classroom, but the Beacons staff has identified them as having leadership potential in the afterschool program setting.  Their teachers may ask, “Are you sure you want to bring that child up to a camp about leadership?” The Beacons staff insist that yes, they do, and the child attends the retreat. At camp the young person hears over an over again that they ARE a leader and they are given opportunities to practice. When the young person returns from camp, the teacher seeks out the Beacons staff days later to say, “What happened at that retreat? Something is totally different about the way this child is behaving in my classroom.”

We know from this annual experience that sometimes just the act of telling a child that they ARE a leader can open up a world of possibility. I believe the same is true of telling them that they can be learners. When I describe the work we do in our Beacon Centers in the Minneapolis Public Schools, I say we “engage youth as leaders and learners.” This is work that every one of us can contribute to. Young people need to have multiple people and places in their lives where these messages are reinforced and where they are given opportunities to practice and develop new skills. By setting high expectations for all young people starting with the belief that EVERY child has the capacity to lead and to learn, we can change the outcomes in our schools, neighborhoods, and society.

But what can I do?

Posted by moderator

Getting more young people on the path to college is good for them and for our state. "But what can I do," you ask? Just about everyone can do something. Here are some examples from the inspirations section of the LearnmoreMN Web site of what individuals, companies and communities are doing.

A group of Deloitte employees take out time from their corporate days to work with Wellstone International High School students as a part of the Achieve! Career and College Initiative. At 17 to 21 years old and with limited English language skills, the Wellstone students welcome the chance to learn about colleges, interviewing, resume writing, and job searching from Deloitte’s experienced professionals. A Deloitte policy of allocating 40 hours a year to volunteer projects bolsters their efforts. Read this story

The City of St. Paul’s Circulator bus provides a simple, but highly effective solution to the problem of connecting children to learning opportunities throughout the neighborhood. Circulator buses provide free rides for young people to libraries, recreation centers, community centers and non-profits. The buses are part of the city's Second Shift initiative. Read this story

Bengo Mrema has volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) since 2001. It took him a while to earn the trust of his little brother, but his positive, consistent presence made a difference. Mrema found creative ways to include academics in their meetings and introduced ideas about college and other post-secondary education options. Mrema says his unconditional commitment has paid off. Read the story

What do you do, or what can you imagine doing? We welcome your stories and ideas.

From the Outside In

By Willy Tully, February 2008 Guest Blogger

If it truly takes a village to raise a child, then how in the world do we expect our youth to succeed without a comprehensive approach to education?  Comprehensive…that sounds difficult. It doesn’t have to be.

I work for a large mentoring organization, but I don’t work formally on mentoring — I connect the youth in the program with postsecondary opportunities, placing an emphasis on higher education. As an organization, we strive to provide the highest quality in mentoring to both the youth and adults that come to our door. But the fact of the matter is that anyone can be, and realistically is a mentor in their everyday life. From teachers to preachers to parents, high school counselors to college admissions counselors to custodians, daily interaction with children is an opportunity — an opportunity to impart some amount of knowledge, build confidence, and fulfill the obligation that adults have to invest positively in youth. 

An Investment — Education is the Best
Perhaps we can agree that the greatest method by which an individual might enrich their circumstance is education. Beyond the simple yet hugely important informal stuff that occurs in a mentoring relationship, every mentor should be equipped with the tools to discuss higher education with a child. Collectively we know how to do this, but individually we have a need and an opportunity to learn more.

Each of us plays a role as a mentor. By sharing our experiences with one another, together we can improve our community from the ground up. We can all start by asking, “how can I change a child’s life today, and what do I have to say?”