How Late Is Too Late?

Last night my Fraternity had a forum entitled, Call To Action: How Late is Too Late? One of my favorite professors was the moderator. (Is it really possible to have a favorite professor and you have never taken one of their classes?) Well she is definitely one of my favorites. We have had her at a few of our programs since I became a member of my organization and if I was not on track to graduate in a few weeks, I would take one of her classes just for the fun of it.

I was able to stand in front of the 100+ people at the program last night and offer my idea of a solution for some of the issues we discussed. As an education major, I feel that it is vitally important to impact our youth in a positive way. It is never too late for our youth and their futures. More young black men than ever are being placed in RTI programs leading some to believe that they are being placed in these programs too soon. Does this somehow link to the extremely large population of young black men being placed in prison? Is this a part of the reason that there are more black men in jail than in college?

Regardless of our feelings towards this issue, the fact remains that our students are struggling in many cases. Without looking at our Black students or White students or Hispanic or Asian students specifically, we must understand that we have a job to do as educators. That job is not to look at studies of a small group of children and allow those studies to make us feel sorry for students or develop false ideas about the children in our communities. We have to let each and every child know that it is never too late to take responsibility for their own  education, and by doing so, take responsibilities for their futures.