Reading, Writing, Roulette (cont.)
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world, but I like King because it gives the kids a good sense of their heritage," she
says. "I wanted them to have an education like I knew of--Booker T.
and George Washington Carver. I read their stories when
I was growing up picking cotton in Gold Dust, Tennessee, and we didn't have
this diversity,
this trying to be somebody you wasn't."
And as always, she's trying to find the right paths for her kids. Anastasia graduates from King Elementary this spring. Brenda is searching for the best middle school. Fransau 18, a quiet artist with so-so grades, also graduates this year, from Bay View, a multicultural public high school in the southern part of town. His mother is nudging him toward a technical college. ZsaZsa, 16, a junior at Bay View with a bent for music, shocked everyone recently when she announced she was pregnant. "She's still going to college," Brenda says emphatically, quickly explaining that the father, a Bay View student, was saving money for the baby, who will go to DLH's day-care program while ZsaZsa continues school. Brenda sighs. "I had hoped they'd learn from my mistakes. I tell them don't do like me. There's a better life. For me it was my education or my children's. I don't want them to have to make that choice." By the grace of God, as she often says, they won't. That's why Brenda is up at 5:00 A.M. each weekday, getting the last of her charges off to school, like Noah, saving them two by two.
Public Schools: What You Can Do
Despite the growing popularity of school choice, most Black children attend public schools. Josephine Mosley, principal of Milwaukee's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary, suggests a few ways each of us can help a local public school improve its performance:
- Advocate. Be aware of school-related issues. Vote for school boards
and initiatives to increase funding.
- Give. Gifts can range from sponsoring a class field trip to providing
a uniform for one child. "A year's supply of tissue boxes" helps
keep kids in school, Mosley says.
- Build partnerships. Join colleagues and adopt a class. Send speakers;
give supplies. Ask the teacher for a wish list.
- Become a mentor. Help guide at least one young person who is not your
child.
- See for yourself. Visit a neighborhood school. Volunteer as an education assistant. Be a principal for a day. "Walk a mile in my moccasins," Mosley says, "and you'll understand what teachers and principals are dealing with."
-- R.S.