Education + Imagination

As I share my thoughts with you I am working on an application for the Imagine Me Leadership Charter School, a new school we plan to open in September 2010 for boys grades K-2nd.  Someone asked me why our education team (Christians for Quality Education, CQE) chose such a name for our proposed school and why all boys?  Our response is that traditional education has been unsuccessful at educating African American males and we must take a stand to right this runaway train of destruction.  

Noted scholar Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu has said that somewhere between the third and fourth grades our young sons begin to decline academically with little hope of recovery.  I believe that our children, especially our young men, are capable of learning.  Nationally, the conversation around education has focused on closing achievement gaps.  I believe that we must be careful not to blame the victims (our children).  The issue is not achievement gaps but access gaps.  For too long our children have been trapped in educational dead zones. Clusters of failing schools with little hope, and even less in resources are growing in number. Darkened, uninventive and unimaginative schools have cloaked our children in an overcoat of minimalism.  

Recently CQE visited Excellence Charter School, an institution educating boys kindergarten through 8th grade in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.  During our visit we learned that the Excellence students scored 100% on all New York State required exams.  If I had to say what core values and ideals they have embraced to be successful, it would have to be their belief that children can learn when in the right focused and motivating environment, coupled with a “no nonsense, no excuses” attitude that has closed the access gap.  All it takes is one visit to Excellence Charter School and you feel the intention of the leadership is to provide every opportunity for the boys, the school has truly earned its name and reputation.  At Excellence, each student is addressed as scholar and classes are modeled after nationally recognized colleges.  The expectation is that every student can and will learn.  Matriculation in college is not a dream, but the goal.  

It is time to imagine new and creative ways of educating our boys with teachers who are full of energy, enthusiasm and passion, partnering with parents who are involved with schools administrators to collectively achieve academic excellence through the next generation of children.