The Secret To Keeping Trouble Kids in School?

Kids born into poverty live day by day in the teeth of a culture where education is revered on the one hand, but viewed as meaningless and irrelevant to survival on the other. Survival, for some impoverished kids, means joining strong street gangs for protection, in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. The challenge then, for the child, is to maintain loyalty to the street gang, which devalues education, while chasing their dreams for a better future.

The Los Angeles Times ran a front page story on June 24, 2009 headlined "Subtle signs of a turnaround on a troubled L.A. campus." For years Locke High School, on the edge of Watts, has been one of California's most troubled high schools, producing some of the state's lowest test scores as well as the highest drop-out rates. Only 5% of freshmen make it to college. But according to the article, things are improving thanks to a transformation project called "Green Dot." The chief executive of Green Dot was quoted in the article as saying, "We have not unlocked all the mysteries. We're very humble about that."

His comment suggests infinite patience and a determined mind.

What I found intriguing about this story is the focus by Green Dot to create cultural change. Cultural change is brought about primarily by outside influences—in this case, Green Dot. When the strength of the outside force (Green Dot) is greater than the culture's internal influence, cultural adaptation, or change will occur. The internal influence is the poverty culture itself—the constant stress of violence, and the unrelenting focus on survival. Green Dot seems to be having some success at turning things around. The article points out that 30 students, who otherwise would have dropped out, will graduate this year. One of those students is quoted as saying, "I feel good about my future."

This article hit home for me in many ways. During my childhood and teenage years, the stranglehold of poverty made survival my highest, and often, only priority. The teenage years were the most vulnerable for me. Threatened by gang members and abused by an alcoholic father, I had many moments of depression and self-doubt. Through it all, I always knew that a higher education was my only hope for escaping poverty, however I lacked both the security and knowledge for making that happen.

It wasn't until I could realistically envision a safe and clear path for continuing my education, that I was able to start feeling good about the future. In order for that to happen, I needed help from the outside. And, that's what hit home for me when I read the article. The secret to keeping our troubled kids in school is providing a structured environment that enables them to feel good about their future. They will feel good about the future when their security is assured and they have clear directions from appropriate role models. Green Dot has the right idea.

Doug Wallace is an attorney, a successful entrepreneur and a published author. His book, Everything Will Be All Right is a memoir, scheduled for nationwide launch on October 1, 2009. Doug chose to write his story of growing up in poverty as a way to call attention to the unimaginable hardships for the generationally impoverished. Launched October 2009, available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders Kindle, Sony Reader, and retail book stores everywhere