Parents League of New York

9 ARTICLE This article first appeared in the 2009 Edition of the Parents League Review. REPRINT IN OUR SCHOOLS INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS, DIVERSITY, AND THE AGE OF OBAMA Independent Schools, Diversity, and the Age of Obama by Aileen C. Hefferren, Prep for Prep It’s important that stories like mine aren’t used to say that everything is O.K. for blacks. You have to remember that for every one of me, there are hundreds or thousands of black students with at least equal talent who don’t get a chance. – Barack Obama1 Even for veteran observers of the New York independent school scene, the May 9, 2008 Smart Connections conference was an eye-opening expe- rience. Hosted by Prep for Prep, the 30-year old leadership development nonprofit that identifies talented students of color in New York’s public schools and prepares them for placement in independent schools, the meet- ing brought together 200 nonprofit executives, administrators, and social entrepreneurs from across the country and around the world. They shared ideas on improving and growing their various education and diversity initiatives, a number of which work with leading New York City independent schools as well as the country’s top boarding schools. It was not long ago that the leaders of such organizations could have met comfortably around a small conference table. In 1957 the Boys Club of New York established the nation’s first Independent School Placement program. A Better Chance, aimed specifically at young people of color, followed soon thereafter. Prep for Prep joined their ranks in 1978. It was not until the 1980's, however, that the number of nonprofits devoted to diversity in education and leadership development began to boom. Orga- nizations like the Albert G. Oliver Program and Early Steps, whose mis- sions are described below, began. The TEAK Fellowship opened its doors in 1998. For such organizations, each committed to creating greater access to New York’s independent schools for children of color and low-income 1. 28-year old Barack Obama, quoted in The New York Times on February 6, 1990, when he became the first African-American elected to head the Harvard Law Review. • 108 • IN OUR SCHOOLS INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS, DIVERSITY, AND THE AGE OF OBAMA students, the Smart Connections conference represented less a coming-out than a coming-of-age. Collectively, tens of thousands of students of color have now passed through these programs, taking advantage of opportunities they might otherwise have been denied, and using them as a spring- board to elite colleges and universities and prominent positions in education, medicine, law, business and government. The conference was set against a backdrop of remarkable events that the founders of Prep for Prep and similar programs might not have dared even to dream possible a generation or two earlier: David Paterson had just taken the reins of state government as New York’s first African-Ameri- The symbolic value can governor, and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, an alum- of political leadership nus of A Better Chance, addressed is important, but it is the conference as keynote speaker. Most significantly, Barack Obama far removed from the had all but completed his historic broader leadership that campaign to claim the Democratic shapes one’s daily life. Party’s nomination for President, placing him one step from shat- tering what Hugh B. Price, the former President and CEO of the Urban League, described as “the loftiest glass ceiling in American society.” Curiously, these developments were barely remarked upon by anyone at the Smart Connections conference. None of the assembled educators and nonprofit executives seemed ready to declare victory and quit the field. But the question can fairly be asked: What is the role of organizations committed to diversity and minority leadership development in an era that produces an Obama? Personally, I believe that while the symbolic impor- tance of iconic leaders like Barack Obama should not be underestimated, neither should it be overstated. The symbolic value of political leadership is important, but it is far removed from the broader leadership that shapes one’s daily life – the editor of your local paper, the head of your hospital, the CEO of your company. That kind of widespread leadership is still very much missing in America, and its absence will continue to inform and en- ergize our collective efforts for years to come. • 109 • IN OUR SCHOOLS INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS, DIVERSITY, AND THE AGE OF OBAMA Building a Diverse Leadership Pipeline The opening speaker at the conference, Ford Foundation President Luis Ubiñas, noted that by opening the doors of selective schools to children of color, nonprofits have blazed a trail for future Obamas. “Could it possibly be that save for these programs, the immense potential represented by these children would have been put at risk? These children, who are among the best minds we have, who have the potential to shape our country?” Ubiñas wondered aloud. “This is not a theoretical idea. One of these children is Barack Obama. He literally would not have gone to college were it not for scholarships, for his being ‘found.’ That’s what Prep for Prep does. It cre- ates people like him.” Indeed, Prep for Prep invests heavily in leadership development and placement opportunities for the students of color it serves. While Barack Obama is not a product of Prep for Prep or A Better Chance, his rise and résumé have served to validate the academic path to leadership that is the common denominator of such programs. Obama’s campaign made much of his Harvard degree and his stint as Editor-in-Chief of its prestigious Law Review. This emphasis on his academic achievement and intelligence was an essential part of Obama’s candidacy. As several political observers noted, by highlighting his academic credentials, Obama’s campaign sought to ban- ish the thought that perhaps he succeeded only because of his race. Creating people like Obama, Patrick, Ubiñas and institutional leaders in myriad fields, however, was almost certainly more than the founders of Prep for Prep and A Better Chance could have dared to hope for in the tur- bulent years of the 1960's and 1970's, when they began identifying the best and brightest children of color in overlooked corners of the public school system, and opening access for them at leading independent schools. As recently as 1981, the summer before he left the South Bronx to enter Har- vard as a freshman, Ubiñas worked as an advisor to some of Prep for Prep’s earliest students. As he recalls, merely gaining access to selective schools was an accomplishment for gifted children of color. “I saw these incredibly brilliant, hard-working, and respectful children,” Ubiñas recalls. “The normal kid was spectacular. And they would look at me, and they would say, ‘You know, you come from a place that’s as bad or worse than the place I come from. Yet soon, you start at Harvard.’ And they would implicitly ask, ‘Is that possible for me?’ That’s a magical • 110 • IN OUR SCHOOLS INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS, DIVERSITY, AND THE AGE OF OBAMA question. Is it possible for me to go to such a great institution? I think that question is now answered.” Bruce Breimer, the Principal Emeritus of the Collegiate School, agrees. “We’re way beyond any sense that this is even innovative any more,” notes Breimer, who has worked with Prep for Prep for decades. “You simply take it for granted. There’s no friction about it.” The fact that so many programs have appeared nationwide that partner with independent and boarding schools to increase the enrollment of children of color “proves that the validity of these organizations is way beyond question,” he concludes. Leaders in the City’s independent schools agree that the role of organizations that promote diversity in their schools is evolving, and their rela- tionships with such programs are becoming more nuanced. In their earliest iterations, support for such initiatives was sometimes driven by a sense of “noblesse oblige,” ac- cording to Poly Prep "High achieving lower-income Headmaster David B. Harman, who sees it as students enter what we call the a testament to the pro- ‘achievement trap’ – educators, grams’ success that diversity today is viewed policymakers, and the public as a critical component assume they can fend for of a first-rate educa- themselves when the facts tion. “I think mixing kids up, literally, and show otherwise.” having students learn to not only tolerate but respect, admire, and emulate qualities of differ- ence, of otherness – cultural and religious – is the most essential part of their education,” observes Harman. Others note that organizations like ABC, Prep for Prep, Oliver Scholars, and TEAK have ceased to function as mere admissions pipelines. “I had the feeling a few years ago that as an administrator in an independent school, I was in some way a consumer of a service that these organizations offered,” notes Dominic Randolph, who served as Assistant Headmaster at The Lawrenceville School prior to being named the headmaster of Riverdale Country School in 2007. “Now there’s much more back and forth. I feel we’re more partners rather than my just • 111 • IN OUR SCHOOLS INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS, DIVERSITY, AND THE AGE OF OBAMA looking to find students that are suitable from different backgrounds to come to a place like this.” “When I first started as a teacher over 20 years ago [these programs] fulfilled a need for racial and economic diversity” notes Lori Redell, who oversees admissions at Poly Prep. “That’s changed.

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