A Hope in the Unseen

"I was interested in the book because my kids were in the DC [District of Columbia] public schools – they actually graduated from the DC public schools. This is an incredible book: It’s about this amazing young kid, Cedric Jennings, who not only graduated from the DC public schools but then goes to Brown University, which is where I went to school. It’s just an extraordinary story. I think it’s good for any progressive to understand the class, social and race issues that he deals with in this book. I also think it’s important to understand what it takes for a young person coming from a radically different background to integrate into even a progressive university. I’m a huge believer in public education and the need to fight for public education – I think it’s the core democratic institution we have in this country and I think in too many places we’ve abandoned it. The District of Columbia is a good example of where there are good committed folks, but so much still to do. It’s been interesting, since I read this book, going back to Brown last year and to see the difference with Ruth Simmons, the first African American woman president of an Ivy League institution. I can see the difference in the student body, how it looks, how it has changed. It was tremendous but, again, I just think this book gives you a really good sense of both why we need to do more about public education and what it really takes to help young people who have tremendous potential. It’s not enough just to get them into a good university and to give them those opportunities, but to think about all the different barriers that exist for them. This kid deals with all of them and goes on to have an incredible life and career. Well, to me what was so striking about it is his whole experience. When his mom takes the bus up to see him on parents’ weekend, their outing is to the dollar store, whereas all his classmates – their parents are taking them out to the finest restaurants and they have the right clothes and all the trappings of what it means to be in an Ivy League institution. And I have to say, even for myself. I was from Texas – I had never been out of Texas – so I felt dislocated at Brown just for a whole host of reasons. I didn’t know the language the kids spoke, but you think of this young kid who’s so smart, has fought to get through school in the District of Columbia, and then to get to Brown and be so alienated from everything. It’s mainly about class – it’s about race but it’s mainly about class. I think there’s a lesson in there for all, and I don’t think it comes out on one side or the other particularly. It’s an important story because it’s way more than just opening a door for a young person – there are often a lot of other obstacles in their way and I think this book does a great job of showing that. I think it also does a great job of showing how important it is to be supporting schools that can provide young people with the background they need to be successful at college and in their career."

"A Hope in the Unseen is an amazing first-hand account of the struggles a poor African-American student with tremendous ability and potential went through while growing up and going to schools in Washington, DC, where I was chancellor. The book walks through the challenges this young man had to overcome during his schooling and his transition to higher education. It’s a great book for people who believe that the circumstances of your upbringing don’t need to circumscribe how far you can go in life. One of the biggest lessons that people should take from this story is that there are so many Cedrics out there. People shouldn’t assume that a kid from a certain school or a certain neighbourhood can’t achieve at the highest levels. Kids like Cedric prove those assumptions wrong. This is an important point and one that educators think about a lot. We need to find ways, within the culture of schools, to celebrate academic achievers as much as we celebrate athletic achievement. Even in low-performing schools people come out for a basketball game or a homecoming game. That’s why athletes are revered – the entire community rallies around them. We have to do the same kind of thing for the kids that are succeeding academically. It can’t just be that we give them a plaque at an awards ceremony. We have to create an ongoing culture where the entire community is saying that these kids are making us proud."