TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/080690/0806120.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 6.0 KB | 127 lines

                                                                                EDUCATION, Page 58

Diamonds in The Rough


An unusual program propels young blacks toward college

By SUSAN TIFFT/DAVIDSON, N.C.


    Casually attired in khaki trousers and a gray polo shirt,
math teacher Tony Dula scribbles an algebra problem on a sheet
of clear plastic and, using an overhead projector, throws the
image on the blackboard for his class of 10th-graders. "O.K.,"
he says, "you have two minutes." Heads bow and sneakered feet
tap softly on the floor. Suddenly a student in the second row
breaks the silence. "Oooooh! I found it!," she cries. "I feel
good!" Another girl waves her hand wildly from the back of the
room. "Mr. Dula! Mr. Dula! I did it!"

    Solving algebra problems may not be every teenager's idea
of how to spend a month of summer vacation, but for the 90
black youngsters enrolled in Love of Learning, a three-year-old
minority-enrichment program at North Carolina's Davidson
College, schoolwork is hot stuff. "They get motivated when they
come here," says English teacher Regina Brandon. "This is an
opportunity for them to get rid of some of the stumbling blocks
that hold them back."

    Those barriers can be daunting for minority students, many
of whom have a hard time succeeding in the impersonal
atmosphere of regular school. Love of Learning purposely
recruits promising youngsters from the nearby
Charlotte-Mecklenburg public school system who are in the
middle -- not at the top -- of their class. Special
consideration is given to those who have the potential to be
the first in their families to go to college. "I call them
diamonds in the rough," says Love of Learning director Brenda
Tapia, who is also Davidson's assistant chaplain.

    The aim of the program is to inspire black adolescents to
pursue higher education. So far, the results are encouraging:
every one of the 29 students in the inaugural class went on to
college, four to top-ranked Davidson and one to the University
of Virginia.

    What makes the effort work so well is parental commitment
and sustained, year-round attention. Once students are selected
in the eighth grade, they must pledge to spend the next five
Julys at Davidson, in addition to twice-monthly meetings that
include English and math workshops and SAT reviews during the
regular school year. Parents must promise to participate in
quarterly discussions of topics ranging from high school-course
selection to college financial aid. "This is a student and
parent program," says Tapia. "I make it clear that I won't
accept a child whose parent doesn't consent to being involved."

    During the summer session, students bunk down in a Davidson
dorm and are awakened each morning at 6 by one of the 19
college-age counselor-mentors who live there with them. The
schedule is intensive: classes run from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.,
and youngsters are required to be in their rooms doing homework
until 10 p.m. The packed curriculum includes lessons twice a
week in leadership, spiritual development and "wellness," a
catchall term for such subjects as sexuality and drug use.
"Students can't graduate if they're pregnant or addicted,"
explains wellness instructor Georgia Ringle. "And these kids
are at risk for such things."

    Most of this summer's 25 teachers are drawn from Davidson
or the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system. The majority are
African American, and all are expected to weave black history
and culture into their lessons. Ninth-graders read Richard
Wright's Black Boy: A Record of Childhood & Youth, as well as
Romeo and Juliet. Science lectures stress African-American
inventors. "I tell them that just because you're cocoa brown
doesn't mean your brain doesn't function,"' says physical
science teacher Brooksetta Davidson. "These kids don't have
anyone to push them. That's my role."

    The goal is to create an extended family of support during
the critical precollege years, teach youngsters good study
habits and bolster their self-confidence. Love of Learning
hopes to counteract the message many kids hear from their
peers: doing well academically is for blacks who are trying to
"act white." "In high school, if you're black, you're laughed
at for showing an aptitude for anything other than sports,"
says Davidson sophomore Nethea Rhinehardt, 19, a Love of
Learning alumna who returned this summer as a counselor-mentor.
"Love of Learning was the first time I'd ever been able to be
myself."

    This year's crop of students seems to agree. "Some kids say
it's dumb to spend your summer studying," says 11th-grader
Carla Brice, 16, who hopes eventually to attend Howard
University. "When I grow up, I want to be giving out jobs, not
looking for one at McDonald's."

    During the regular academic year, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
schools send grades to Love of Learning administrators so that
they can monitor students' progress. Parents are encouraged to
accompany their children on organized cultural outings, which
last year included a reading by black poet Lucille Clifton. "I
get something out of this, and I know my child does," says auto
technician John Carouthers, whose daughter Stephanie will be
in 11th grade this fall. "This program is giving our kids
something we can't."

    Love of Learning accepts just 30 new students a year and is
expensive to run: the cost to Davidson is about $3,000 per
pupil annually, with most of the money provided by corporations
and foundations. The scheme has worked so well that it has
already spawned imitators. Four other small, Southern
liberal-arts schools -- Furman, Rhodes, the University of the
South and Washington and Lee -- are considering launching
similar programs, two as early as next summer. "We treasure the
hope that this is replicable," says Davidson College president
John Kuykendall. Love of Learning teacher Davidson concurs.
"If you can't give these kids anthing else,"she says, "give
them hope."