I have said often and proudly that I am a product of Springfield (MA) Public Schools. Thanks to the support of many Springfield teachers throughout my K-12 schooling, I was able to thrive and, yes, even excel academically so that, by the time my Classical HS guidance counselor, Mr. Gary Watson, convinced me to apply to colleges, I was offered a range of financial aid, including a Ralph J. Bunche Scholarship to Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
Thanks to the academic confidence and work ethic that I cultivated throughout my Springfield K-12 school career, I graduated from Colby with a liberal arts degree (B.A.), earned my M.A. at Tufts, also on full scholarship, and was accepted to Harvard University, with an amazing scholarship package. All this by a Puerto Rican girl/woman, the first in her family to go to college, who grew up with 3 younger brothers, a factory-working mami and a foundry-working papi on Newland Street in the media-maligned North End of Springfield.
My academic experiences K-12 in Springfield Public Schools, though, should be the rule, not the exception. What do I mean by that? Every single child, and yes, I do mean child, even when my own 14-year-old teen towers over me at 6', deserves the same quality education, attention, and commitment I received. Every single child - no matter her or his economic status, race, ethnicity, home language or personal circumstances that may or may not impact behavior - deserves a quality public school education. The priorities at every school should be to foster a culture of care for all students while they receive their education and to encourage meaningful and not superficial parent/family involvement, something I model with my own parenting as a single mom of a High Honors 9th grader who wants to become a cardiac surgeon.
Thanks to my education, I have had the opportunity to choose the professional positions I wanted. Thanks to my education, I have traveled to numerous countries, including Germany, Spain, Turkey, and Iran. And thanks to my education, I was able to transition from a battered women's shelter, yes, you read correctly, from being homeless with a 2-year-old son to a place of my own, all the while managing to enter my PhD program at Harvard with no address except for a PO Box.
So, now you'll understand my intensity whenever I insist on telling everyone I meet: elementary-aged children, middle schoolers, high schoolers, pregnant teens, laid-off factory workers, and homemakers and working women alike who have raised their children and are considering taking a course or two to feed a passion deferred by work and family: "Education is the one thing that no one can ever take away from you."
There is one thing I must make clear; education for me is not only about degrees. Instead, it is about fostering life-long learning and realizing that the more you learn and the more you take the time to identify and to work toward fulfilling your passion, the more options and opportunities you will absolutely have. We need to teach each other to give ourselves permission to pursue our passion and to embrace success, not fear it.
Right now, we must demand two things: equal access to a quality education for all of our children K-12, and intentional education of ALL families on how to advocate for their children's education and for their own.
Thanks to the academic confidence and work ethic that I cultivated throughout my Springfield K-12 school career, I graduated from Colby with a liberal arts degree (B.A.), earned my M.A. at Tufts, also on full scholarship, and was accepted to Harvard University, with an amazing scholarship package. All this by a Puerto Rican girl/woman, the first in her family to go to college, who grew up with 3 younger brothers, a factory-working mami and a foundry-working papi on Newland Street in the media-maligned North End of Springfield.
My academic experiences K-12 in Springfield Public Schools, though, should be the rule, not the exception. What do I mean by that? Every single child, and yes, I do mean child, even when my own 14-year-old teen towers over me at 6', deserves the same quality education, attention, and commitment I received. Every single child - no matter her or his economic status, race, ethnicity, home language or personal circumstances that may or may not impact behavior - deserves a quality public school education. The priorities at every school should be to foster a culture of care for all students while they receive their education and to encourage meaningful and not superficial parent/family involvement, something I model with my own parenting as a single mom of a High Honors 9th grader who wants to become a cardiac surgeon.
Thanks to my education, I have had the opportunity to choose the professional positions I wanted. Thanks to my education, I have traveled to numerous countries, including Germany, Spain, Turkey, and Iran. And thanks to my education, I was able to transition from a battered women's shelter, yes, you read correctly, from being homeless with a 2-year-old son to a place of my own, all the while managing to enter my PhD program at Harvard with no address except for a PO Box.
So, now you'll understand my intensity whenever I insist on telling everyone I meet: elementary-aged children, middle schoolers, high schoolers, pregnant teens, laid-off factory workers, and homemakers and working women alike who have raised their children and are considering taking a course or two to feed a passion deferred by work and family: "Education is the one thing that no one can ever take away from you."
There is one thing I must make clear; education for me is not only about degrees. Instead, it is about fostering life-long learning and realizing that the more you learn and the more you take the time to identify and to work toward fulfilling your passion, the more options and opportunities you will absolutely have. We need to teach each other to give ourselves permission to pursue our passion and to embrace success, not fear it.
Right now, we must demand two things: equal access to a quality education for all of our children K-12, and intentional education of ALL families on how to advocate for their children's education and for their own.