Endless Summer

 

 

"These kids are products of a broken school system, a broken economy, and for some, broken homes..."

Today, we spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon in around Minneapolis. We had a family member who needed some dental attention and needed a ride to the dentist. We noticed two things about our largest city: 1) the traffic has become very heavy far beyond normal rush hour and 2) there were a heck of lot of kids standing around not working nor in school.

Many people today seem to be concerned about our education system. In particular the achievement gap. Consequently, we have some schools in Minneapolis (as well as other large cities) which have chronically low graduation rates. The excuses for this come in waves. "Kids of color learn differently;" or "It is a cultural thing." To all of that I say "crap!" I have worked and served with people from every race or combination thereof. I have yet to find any race, sex, creed or faith that is pre-disposed to learn better or worse than anyone else.

So we end up with broken schools, mostly in the inner city. We stick kids in those failed schools (many of which are of color). When they fail, we blame the allusive "gap". Well that is just the wrong answer.! I am tired of our city as well as others "throwing away" kids just because leaders refuse to lead. Private schools who have a structured environment and high expectations have a habit of producing "winners" out of kids who were once thought to be "losers".

We take kids who have dropped out of school or have graduated, and are functionally illiterate, and expect them to succeed. Throw in an economy which has been stuck in the mud for 5 years and what do you have? A youth unemployment rate ranging from 20 to 40 percent. These kids have no education, no job, no future. Many turn to breaking and entering or other crime. As the well healed move into deluxe studio apartments, the throw away youth end up begging on street corners or living a life of petty crime.

Every year this problem seems to get worse, never better. Some may be okay with developing a permanent underclass in the city, but I am not. As a man of faith, I believe every life has value and importance. These kids deserve better. They need to be taught how to fish, not to just eat a fish meal. We owe it to them. We owe it to all of us.