海角大神

Linda Nathan served as founding headmaster of Boston Arts Academy from 1998 to 2014. The reflects the racial makeup of the public schools throughout the city 鈥� about 8 out of 10 students are African-American or Latino. And more than half come from low-income families.听

Its graduation rate is higher than average 鈥� about 85 percent. And more than 90 percent of the graduates are accepted into college or career-training programs.听

But Dr. Nathan was disturbed to learn that only about two-thirds were finishing a degree or training program within six years. That rate is higher than the national average, but she wondered what needed to change to better support those who clearly had hit obstacles after school leaders like her had encouraged them to pursue their college dreams.听

She interviewed BAA alumni about their experiences for her new book, 鈥淲hen Grit Isn鈥檛 Enough: A High School Principal Examines How Poverty and Inequality Thwart the College-For-All Promise,鈥� published this week by Beacon Press.听

Nathan is now the executive director of the Center for Artistry and Scholarship, a nonprofit that fosters arts-immersed schools.听She spoke with the Monitor recently by phone about her new book. Below are excerpts from that conversation.听

Why did you title your book, 鈥淲hen Grit Isn鈥檛 Enough鈥�? Is there an implication in some education circles that grit is a silver bullet?

Yes. [In many public schools with low-income students] there are emblems, flags about being 鈥済ritty鈥� 鈥� all this 鈥渘o excuses鈥� stuff.

There鈥檚 nothing wrong with the word. But it鈥檚 promulgated by people who truly believe that if you just work harder you鈥檒l be fine.

It鈥檚 true, you will听not听be fine if you听don鈥檛听work hard. But working hard is not sufficient [for] kids who are starting behind the eight ball, who go to very under-resourced schools.

I saw some classroom practices in the no-excuses schools that just chilled me to the bone, that you鈥檇 never see in any middle-class school. It鈥檚 very rote, it鈥檚 very call and response, and I felt it was very punitive and oppressive.

I鈥檓 a huge proponent for the arts. If you think about the word 鈥減ersistence,鈥� which I like a lot better than 鈥済rit,鈥� the arts is all about practicing and trying again and taking risks.听

You talked with many alumni of Boston Arts Academy about the role of race in their college experience. What surprised you about what they shared?

I didn鈥檛 expect the white kids to find the racial isolation as troubling, and听they really did. They really felt they had gone backwards once they got to college. And they were very articulate about how dangerous that is.

The kids of color, they were so used to being in the majority and now they were in the minority, and their stories were just chilling. But when I share those stories with other people of color, that鈥檚 all happened to them too, so I don鈥檛 know that it surprised me.

Why is it important for the systemic inequities students face to be brought into the foreground 鈥� and how can educational leaders do that better?

We have this notion of, just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and you鈥檒l be fine. That鈥檚 really not true. We must understand what the most vulnerable of us are actually facing.

Colleges are absolutely not set up to support low-income and black and brown kids, and that鈥檚 what systemic racism is all about.

High schools have to figure out this partnership with colleges or employers, so that we can take collective responsibility for our kids.

What do you recommend that educators do differently to better prepare low-income or first-generation students who want to go to college?

I would get guidance [counselor] ratios down to 1 to 40 or 30, which is what suburban schools do.听

All kids need something like a senior project or a long-term internship. That鈥檚 how you get engaged in learning. All kids need a very comprehensive arts curriculum, because that鈥檚 where you鈥檙e going to learn to make and do, that鈥檚 where you鈥檙e going to learn to create beauty.听

Everybody鈥檚 got to have some kind of work experience. I would love to see a sort of a Peace Corps for all kids in this country, where everyone has to spend 6 months to a year doing some deep service work. That would really change the way we think about high school.

There鈥檚 no policy conversation right now about what it would take to have kids doing what鈥檚 called deep learning.

When kids are out in the world and not just in classrooms, they have an ability to integrate what they are learning from the work world to the classroom. It allows them to mature in very significant and positive ways.

Once low-income students succeed in high school and go on to college, why is money more of an obstacle than people often realize?

You鈥檝e got your scholarship, and then your GPA dips down and you lose your scholarship. They miss a payment, they don鈥檛 have this or that, then they drop out. They鈥檙e done for life. There is no safety net.

I鈥檓 trying to say, stop blaming the kid. Let鈥檚 create some systemic responses.

What should high school and college educators do to address the racial undercurrents of society?

There has to be so much more work.

Maybe 10 years ago, there was a wonderful meeting [between] admissions people [from elite universities] and [Boston] high school headmasters and guidance counselors. It was one of the hardest conversations I鈥檝e ever been at.

Those admissions people said things to us like, 鈥淲e can鈥檛 take your kids if they鈥檙e not a fit, if they鈥檙e not good enough for us.鈥� We said, 鈥淲e think they are all good enough for you; we wouldn鈥檛 let them apply if they weren鈥檛. But if you take them, you better support them when they get there.鈥�

We need more of those conversations.

[Many] colleges don鈥檛 want to acknowledge that they鈥檝e got a race problem. They鈥檒l say, 鈥淲e have this and that program.鈥澨鼴ut you can鈥檛 鈥渄o racism鈥澨齩n Tuesday and expect it to go away.

[A lot of] colleges don鈥檛 think they have a responsibility to teach race [or to get] kids to understand how to live in a pluralistic, multiracial society.

Our professional development hasn鈥檛 allowed for teachers to really talk about the difference between their own background and the kids they are teaching. [Many] teachers don鈥檛 have 鈥渞ace muscles鈥�; they don鈥檛 know how to talk about race.

The push for all students to be prepared for college included a desire to end the kind of tracking that would give some students greater opportunities than others to prosper in the long term. How did you come to see that as fraught with false promises?

I鈥檝e been in public education for 40 years and I believe deeply that we should have kids going on to college. But I also came to believe that we weren鈥檛 doing enough with career and technical education 鈥� that this notion that literally everyone would go to college, it doesn鈥檛 make sense.

As I began to visit more vocational schools and look at more of what was going on in Europe, I really became convinced that this country needs a paradigm shift.

Can high school re-embrace, without tracking, some very powerful types of career and technical training?

The population in our country that actually has work experience, it鈥檚 the wealthy kids, it鈥檚 not the low-income kids. That should raise incredible concern.

What are the potential equity concerns if high schools shift to more career training for students?

That鈥檚 what everyone鈥檚 worried about 鈥� [going] back to 鈥渧oc ed,鈥� where we housed the poor black and brown kids. If I鈥檓 a black or brown parent and you tell me my kid鈥檚 in the voc track, I鈥檓 saying, 鈥淣o, 鈥檆ause my kid鈥檚 got to go to college.鈥�

I want this to be for everybody. It鈥檚 a different approach. Until we can talk about [it] for all kids, we鈥檝e got a problem.

We need to invest in community colleges; we need to invest in guidance counselors for our schools. We have decided as a society that we will invest in those that have and not those that don鈥檛.

What鈥檚 your biggest reason for hope that things can move in the direction you鈥檇 like to see?

The kids [at my schools]. I鈥檝e trained generations of kids. They will raise these questions. I even had a kid who鈥檚 run for City Council now. What gives me hope is that we鈥檒l keep fighting.