Dear Mr. President,

I have been reading an excellent book titled, “Letters to the Next President” by Carl Glickman.  In this book, teachers, administrators, and parents from around the nation write letters to you expressing their belief in education and asking for assistance.  This gave me the idea that maybe I, too, should write a letter to you, making a few suggestions.

From the very first day that my students and I set out on a journey to help others and to reach out to those in need in our community, I realized the power of service, especially for urban kids.  For, the same kids that have difficulty staying focused in a math classroom solving equations, or who struggle to complete science projects about volcanoes and such, these kids came alive with a passion that I had never seen before, in child or adult, as they dedicated their time and energy in serving others. 

Some say that urban kids, inner-city kids, or at-risk youth cannot reach out to help others because they have enough challenges of their own.  Or, some also may say that these kids should spend any free time they have catching up on instruction and trying to close the gap in achievement that exists between themselves and their suburban counterparts.    I must ask these people to accompany my students on a service learning project or a community outreach initiative.  To spend just one hour with these kids, one can see the power behind service and outreach, even for the most at-risk and needy among them.

Urban youth are craving an education that they can believe in.  They are longing for lessons that they can connect with and that are applicable to the real world, exposed, raw, and true to match the real world life that they know.  They are also yearning for something that makes them feel alive and empowered.  This feeling can come from video games, drugs, movies, weapons, money, or gangs, OR we can give them the gift of service so that they can feel alive and empowered in a way that will change their lives and propel them from some of the darkest and most dismal situations in which they find themselves.

In practical application, how can this be accomplished?  Well, my plan for empowering these young adults has multiple components:

1.  A real world curriculum that integrates issues of social justice, animal welfare, and environmental ethics into all core content areas.  Global issues and local issues must be included.

2.  Service learning projects should be completed at least quarterly in one or more content areas.

3.  An entire school culture should revolve around the concept of living humanely and peacefully.  Decisions should be made based on this school culture of peace and community outreach. Decisions from the field trips to take, to textbooks to purchase, magazines subscriptions, and even food choices in the school cafeteria.

4.  Service and outreach must be rewarded.  College money in exchange for hours of community services is essential.  I will explain this in detail below.

5.  A paid position of “Community Outreach Coordinator”at each school should be added.  I will also explain this element below.

In regards to the service and outreach initiative in our urban schools, I must begin by establishing the context for a program such as this.  First, Ruby Payne has done extensive research and examination into the lives of individuals and groups living in poverty.  One clear point that she makes time and again is that people living in poverty focus on the day-to-day operations of their lives, and they do not emphasize future planning like their middle class and upper class counterparts.  I witness this directly in my classroom and in my urban school.  Most of the programs that are targeting urban youth today take a future-oriented approach.  These programs seek to motivate kids by making promises of academic achievement, future scholarships and grants, future success in college, and future success in general.  The problem is all of this focus on “future” with nothing tangible for the kids to see today.

My suggestion is to reward kids today for their service and outreach.  This would be in the form of college money in exchange for service hours.  Mr. President, you have suggested a program of this sort in your educational agenda, but your plan focuses on current college students.  I believe that this program must start earlier.  For, you see, the kids that we need to be targeting, are the kids that are at the highest risk for dropping out.  If we start an incentive plan for these urban kids starting as young as seventh grade, we can motivate them to complete high school and continue on to college. 

The way this program would work is, starting in the seventh grade, students receive $4,000 for every 100 hours of community service/outreach that they complete.  This money is placed into an account, setup much like a trust fund, and can only be used towards college tuition and expenses.  Students get a quarterly statement sent directly to them, with their name on the account, much like our 401K and retirement plans.  This statement would be the tangible item that these kids need to stay motivated.   Many students are lost between tenth and eleventh grades.  If these kids started volunteering in the seventh grade, they could be receiving quarterly statements with as much as $16,000 in their account by the end of the tenth grade.

I foresee a possible objection or question about this suggested plan.  Some may say how will we come up with the money to pay these kids for service hours?  Well, initially this will mean a tax increase to cover the first few years of incentive pay.  After that, the investment returns that the money will gain, can contribute to the cost of this program.  In addition, for the kids that dropout and thus have a high rate of incarceration, taxpayers pay $20,000 per year to support each one.  It’s either pay them $4,000 a year to encourage them to serve their community and motivate them to stay in school and even continue on to college, or possibly pay $20,000 a year to support them while they are incarcerated.

The final crucial element of this plan is to create a paid position at each school to oversee the coordination of this service and outreach program. This individual, let’s call them the Community Outreach Coordinator, is responsible for matching students with volunteer opportunities and also for the management of all paperwork and submission of service hours to the government.  The Community Outreach Coordinator would establish connections with community organizations, businesses, and non-profits to setup potential volunteer opportunities.  The Coordinator would then work with each student to asses his/her career interests, personality type, skills, and interests to match each student with the most appropriate volunteer opportunity.

As a public school teacher in an urban setting, I believe that the future of our country lies in the hands of our most at-risk youth.  We can continue to let these kids dropout, fail, and feel powerless, or we can dedicate our time and energy to focusing on their needs.  I encourage you and your administration to consider this proposed service and community outreach program.

Sincerely,

Samantha  Gentrup, M.Ed.