The Wu-Tang Effect

During the summer of 2010, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh decided the pool their talents on one team. They settled for the Miami Heat. I am sure there were other things involved in that decision, but the point is that these three friends decided to make their own destiny.

In the summer of 1994 while we were all dancing around to C.R.E.A.M. by Wu-Tang, my good friend and Wu-Tang enthusiast told the tale of how the nine member crew planned to remain solvent. Although they made money and achieved notoriety as a group, each member had their own side projects. A percentage of those side projects went back into the Wu-Tang pot thus making the group The First Bank of Wu-Tang. These young entrepreneurs created their own reality.

There is something to be said about using your resources, pooling your reserves, and using your strengths. This is how companies run and become successful. This is how government works. This is how singers become sensations. There has been talk about how these young men defined destiny. To be sure, there is no real way to define destiny without making others, who would prefer to define destiny for you, angry.

What does any of this have to do with education? First, there old adage goes that it takes a village to raise a child. More important, it takes villagers who bring different strengths to the table. A great teacher, a tremendous presenter/motivator, a skilled administrator, and a financial wizard may be in different stages of their lives and careers. They may not want to give up their great benefits, mediocre job, and brown bag lunch. However, when they get together, they create an educational experience so enriching that we call it "learning."

With the number of educators I know throughout the country, I am determined to get the right fit of educators together to create that educational experience. After over 50 years of "desegregated" schools, a widening Academic Achievement Gap, and a dismal future for African American males, it is clear that we must pool our talents in order to create our own destiny. You don't have to let me know you're interested in this transformation. Trust me, I will be knocking on your door soon.

(As an aside, I would like to take this time to acknowledge "my Wu-Tang Family" also known as the Chicago Crew (originally from Detroit and Cleveland): Jonathan Wray, Gina Gayle,  and Jeremiah White. Our plan was to do "our" thing and unite for various projects and surprise Arsenio Hall as we sat on his couch for our separate interviews which would turn out to be one big hang out session of old friends. Well, there is no more Arsenio Hall Show, but we are still doing our thing. Maybe Arsenio can come out of retirement for one night for just us.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

What does it take for us to realize that we are leaving some children behind? African American males have a dropout rate of over 50% nationwide. In California, African American males overall score lower on standardized testing than students who have been in the country less than 12 months. But don't we already know this. This is not new data. That begs the question, "Does anyone really care?"

The social networking tools of today have allowed me the ability to communicate with my former students. They have agreed that I was hard on them and, only now that they are adults, do they understand why. It is a cruel world. The world consists of the haves and have nots. Education is that continental divide. Those without education limit their opportunities. Once again, this is not new data. We have known this for decades.

We often hear that everyone shouldn't go to college. College is not for everyone. That may be true, but who gets to decide who should go to college. Undereducation of African American males leaves them out of the equation and unable to make the decision for themselves. Maybe college is not for everyone, but shouldn't everyone be prepared for college?

We are not preparing African American males for college, work, or anything else. That is not a new fact either. However, are we prepared to look at these young men as they become adults and admit that we failed them. We failed them because we were scared of them or didn't want them to succeed and our own children to fail. We have to tell them something because they are adults now and they want to know what happened. What are we going to say?