Knowing You Already Have Your Ticket

Many of my friends have heard me mention “my favorite blogger” Ta-Nehisi Coates. I've mentioned him here as well. Yesterday he posted an article that illustrates why I appreciate him so much.  He has recently criticized President Obama for lecturing and shaming predominantly black audiences when he speaks to them.  One of his readers asked Coates what kinds of things he would say if he were to address a group of high school students.  Here are some excerpts from Coates’ answer. 

[W]eirdly enough, I often do get asked to speak to predominantly black schools. …What I generally try to do is avoid messages about "hard work" and "homework," not because I think those things are unimportant, but because I think they put the cart before the horse. The two words I try to use with them are "excitement" and "entrepreneurial." I try to get them to think of education not as something that pleases their teachers, but as a ticket out into a world so grand and stunning that it defies their imagination. 

So my goal is to get kids to own their education. I don't think I can hector them into doing this. I don't think I can shame them into doing it….So I try to get them to see that every subject they study has the potential to open up a universe. I really mean this.  

At this point I am fairly well self-educated, though I have many weaknesses which I likely would not have had, if I'd really gotten a proper and challenging education. …I'm not ashamed of this. It's just a fact. But I also know that if I'd understood, as a youth, what education can give you, that a degree was not simply a matter of being "Twice As Good" but a key to bearing witness to "Twice As Much," I might have made better choices.