PART 4: The Miracle of SAL in Underprivileged Communities
Unfortunately, SAL principles are often most shunned in those sectors of society where it is most needed. Worse still, some parents and leaders of students in these same sectors actually perpetuate the problem. From some so-called Civil Rights leaders who primarily promote grievance over proactivity and possibility, to parents who instill seeds of failure by negatively affirming their own child’s lack of worth, our nation too often fails our students who are most vulnerable to negative peer pressure, and most at risk of sliding into lifestyles that perpetuate intergenerational poverty.
To illustrate this point, consider the words of Felicia Cockrell, an African American woman. Before I share her quote, let me summarize Felicia’s AMAZING story—a story I have highlighted in detail in my upcoming book and previous blog posts.
Felicia was raised on the infamous South Side of Chicago. Growing up, Felicia experienced the presence of structural inequality and other difficult realities of being Black while living on the “wrong side of the tracks.”
To her everlasting credit, she was able to practice Self-Action Leadership in a big way. This resulted in her doing well academically, qualifying to attend safer, more prestigious magnet schools, and eventually graduating from Purdue University with a degree in engineering. She has since served her country abroad in the Navy and worked for a Fortune 100 Company making a six-figure salary. She presently works as an project manager for Google, and is the proud mother of two.
Before she could seriously dream about achieving such impressive accomplishments, Felicia had to learn about and exercise SAL. Part of exercising SAL is learning, and then having the courage and self-confidence, to respond maturely to negative peer pressure, which she did. In her own words:
“Peer pressure is a BIG problem with inner city youth. Of course it is likely a problem with all youth, but I think it’s more intense in the inner city because there is a lot of pressure to be “Black.” The Black stereotype is you don’t care about work, you don’t care about anything except clothes and the opposite sex, and these attitudes are perpetuated throughout the community, so if those things aren’t a high priority, people think there is something wrong with you.
Worse still, if you don’t like those things you get talked about, and when I say talked about—I mean YOU GET TALKED ABOUT—you get reamed. You can’t talk about college, and you’re not supposed to like school. My peers would make fun of me for being smart, and they would call me “White girl” because I talked proper and I liked Seinfeld.”
If the problem only persisted among one’s peers, it might be a more manageable situation, but when it extends to parents & leaders, the problem becomes virtually unsolvable on a collective scale. Again, I quote from Felicia:
“One of the things I’ve seen hurt many people in the inner city is the pressure to not be successful. You would be surprised at how many parents will jab at their kids and say things like: “You’re never going to be anything, so why do you even try?” Tragically, that kind of stuff is said in a lot of households; there is a lot of negative reinforcement to not achieve goals. The aim is to maintain the status quo, which isn’t anything to brag about. My advice to everyone who faces that kind of pressure and negative reinforcement is to not let others bring you down. And believe me, they will try. Some people will even make it their goal in life to bring you down. Don’t let them do it!”
As a professional educator, I have spent nearly five-years in the classroom, first as a part-time substitute teacher in the Atlanta, Georgia area, and second as a full-time classroom teacher in the Houston, Texas area.
My teaching experiences brought me up close and personal with inner-city youth of all colors and cultures in a variety of different situations. From once putting out a fire—literally—to physically restraining a student to end a physical confrontation, I have had many stressful classroom experiences over the years. God bless all teachers of youth! In the Atlanta area alone, I visited over 40 different elementary, middle, high, and alternative schools as a substitute teacher.
Throughout the course of my combined teaching experiences, I have either worked with or mingled among students from over 100 different countries. For those who are underprivileged and marginalized, I have seen first hand the dramatically negative impacts of peer, parental, neighborhood, community, and cultural pressure to not succeed.
I have also observed the negative impacts that drug use, irresponsible sexual behavior, and possible gang-related activities have had on the lives of America’s already most vulnerable youth. It is a vicious cycle that ensnares millions in its imprisoning shackles. It is a very real American tragedy, but it doesn’t have to remain this way.
There are many causes to this deep & complex problem. Some of the biggest contributors to these problems are structural inequality and insufficient resources. Such problems, however, are secondary.
Until the root of the issue is properly addressed, no amount of money, nor formal edicts to enforce structural egalitarianism, will produce the fundamental socio-cultural transformations that our communities so desperately need.
The primary problem is poor education & too few role models of Self-Action Leadership and success. If we change the educational culture in our troubled communities, we will dramatically change the communities themselves in one generation. It is as simple—and as difficult—as that.
In conjunction with the many sad situations I became familiar with as a teacher, I also came to discover—and appreciate—the extraordinary innate, talent, capacity, and potential of many of these underprivileged and underserved students. To illustrate, I share three examples from my own classroom experiences.
EXAMPLE 1:
As a high school English teacher in Houston, Texas, two of my top students came from single-parent households. Both of these students had one significant thing in common—their mothers were extraordinarily proactive in supporting their education—and demanded that their students did their homework & got good grades.
Moreover, these Mothers supported me as a teacher, and expected their children to listen to, and follow, my academic and behavioral directives. Such parental responsibility and support, even though it only came from one parent, worked wonders in the lives of these two students, and served to protect them from much of the adversity and negative pressures they faced from their peers. As important a role as “teacher” is, positive parental affirmation and support dwarfs any positive impact I may have had as a teacher—despite all my efforts to effectively teach them both English & SAL principles. Both of these students ended up going on to college. I am proud of them!
EXAMPLE 2:
Of all 150 or so students that passed through my classroom as a full-time English teacher, my overall top-performing student was not white or Asian; he was Native American. This remarkable young student was small of stature and shy of disposition. For the first several weeks of the school year, I hardly even noticed him. But all that changed once I started to notice how hard he worked, and how diligently he completed his assignments.
Due to his proactive completion of extra credit assignments, this young man consistently scored above 100% on his report card, and ended up walking home with the overall champion’s trophy I gave out to the #1 performing student for all of my classes for the entire school year. In his English journal, this student once wrote the following. With his permission, I share it here today:
“English is my worst subject, has been throughout all these nine years, but now I feel like it’s all about to change, and Mr. Jensen has helped in this realization. …
"He teaches English unlike any of my previous English teachers. And I like it. It’s a shame not many of my colleagues notice how good they have it, they don’t even try. I try and well my grades from last semester proved it. I was the greatest achiver [sic] by having the greatest average in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd six weeks. I also had the highest semester grade, just sayin.’ It’s something to be proud of, and I am, I am just surprised. English is my weakest subject!
"And by accomplishing this achievement, I was baffled. Sure intellect played a role, but I believe effort dominated the outcome of my grade. And Mr. Jensen helped me make an effort. One time Mr. Jensen talked to the class and basically said “If you want to pass my class, make an effort.” Now do you see how lucky we are?”
This student in my ninth grade English class went on to graduate in 2013 and then to attend the University of Texas-Austin—one of the most prestigious public universities in the Great State of Texas.
EXAMPLE 3:
My last story comes from an experience I had substitute teaching at Campbell High School in Smyrna, Georgia. Campbell is one of the most diverse campuses in the Cobb County School District in suburban Atlanta, with students hailing from over 40 different countries!
One day, while substitute teaching for a weight lifting class, I met a talented young African American student I’ll never forget. Because of the subject matter of the class I was teaching, I was quite bored, and most of the students were bored too.
As I anxiously “babysat” a mostly idle group, I took notice of a young Black man who was busy at work on an art project. The piece he was working on was an artistically romantic rendition of the name of another student and his girlfriend.
Impressed by his work, and recognizing there was still a lot of time left before the bell would ring, I praised the young man for his skill & effort, and asked him if he would make a similar piece for me with my name and the name of my girlfriend at the time, who now happens to be my wife.
Obviously flattered—and perhaps even a bit surprised—by my effusive praise, the young man beamed, and eagerly acquiesced to my request.
I still have his work today. It sits framed in my home office to remind me not only of the love I hold for my dear Lina, but of the remarkable potential that lies inside the minds and hearts of inner-city youth that are so often neglected.
I’d like you show you this young man’s work today…
If you are a professional artist, this may seem like a simple, relatively meaningless act by an amateur. But for me—a bumbling idiot when it comes to drawing anything, and as an educator who desperately desires to see the full-flowering of every student’s potential– this small act of service, and the quality of its creation, left a deep impression on me.
Keep in mind that this student completed this entire piece in about half of one class period. And notice the creativity & detail with which he added his own, unique signature in the bottom corner. Talk about a budding entrepreneur as well as an emerging artist.
Here is a young man with everything he needs to succeed; I often wonder if his parents, educators, mentors, and leaders saw the same light I saw—and were as quick to praise and encourage him. I hope they were, but if he was like so many other young people in underprivileged communities, he may not have.
It has been nearly six years since that young man kindly created this cherished piece of artwork for me. Who knows where Levarr Welch is today. Perhaps he is a college graduate; maybe he is even a successful professional artist. I don’t know for sure.
What I do know is that he—like every student of every race and gender—has limitless potential. What a tragedy it is when parents, teachers, and leaders choose to focus on limitations rather than potential.
