This article originally appeared in the Wilmington News-Journal.
New beginnings are ripe for new perspectives. As young freshmen descend on college campuses across the country, I have been reflecting on my own undergraduate experience and thinking about my own journey to college.
I grew up in the suburbs where property values were high and poverty was low. All the clichés about the suburbs were true. Kids had every kind of tutor — one girl I knew had a tutor for every single class in high school. Children in my town had enough textbooks to go around. They had teachers who passionately taught them the three Rs in kindergarten and the three laws of thermodynamics in high school. They had the means to go to college. Their parents had the will to push their kids.
And while my family was certainly not wealthy, there was always food on the dinner table. When you find success — and land at a top-tier university, for instance — it is natural to assume you have been given a special gift of intelligence. But I’ve come to learn that success is more a function of luck and opportunity than it is of genetic fortune. Opportunities are unequal, and it’s no wonder that outcomes are as well. We are a product of our environments.
However, I went to Brandeis University with little concept of any other world. One night toward the beginning of my freshman year, in one of those late-night college conversations, my hallmate Gustavo told me about his journey to Brandeis. Gustavo was raised by his grandmother in Cartagena, Colombia; when he was young, his mother left for America to build up enough of a nest egg so that he could join her. At age 13, Gustavo eventually arrived in the United States, speaking just a few words of English. Yet with relentless drive and deep hope, he was nominated for a POSSE scholarship, which is given to New York City public school students who display extraordinary leadership skills.
All seemed well as he prepared for the final round of interviews. Yet just when his fingertips grazed his dreams of college, a city transit strike paused public transportation. Ordinarily, this would be an inconvenience but not a dead end. But Gustavo’s family did not own a car. He thought about giving up. He thought about staying home. But he didn’t.
Gustavo walked three hours across the city, from Eastern Queens to downtown Manhattan, to make it to his appointment at the POSSE Foundation. He was awarded the scholarship. He defied the odds.
I thought about Gustavo’s perilous path to Brandeis. I thought about the narrow odds that he faced as a high-achieving youth in Colombia who wanted to make something good of himself. In that college dormitory, it dawned on me that there is this whole other world out there of people who did not have the same opportunities that I did. Gustavo relied on the generosity of the POSSE Foundation to pay for school. But by making it to Brandeis, he proved that poverty is not destiny.
Unfortunately, not enough kids are getting these chances. A kid from Brandywine Hundred is no smarter than one from East Wilmington. I firmly believe that every kid can learn if given the opportunity. A child’s future should not be determined by their family’s wealth, but by their wealth of knowledge.
So as I ponder the futures of these college freshmen, I know I cannot imagine the obstacles some have conquered. Many of their fellow classmates might take their education for granted. But I can assure you that Gustavo does not.
We must work tirelessly to reduce these opportunity gaps and craft a more equitable future. We must build a society where every child has the ability to learn from a good teacher in a good school, even if they don’t live in the ‘good’ neighborhood. All children can learn — let’s give them the chance.
Established in 1995, the Georgetown Public Policy Review is the McCourt School of Public Policy’s nonpartisan, graduate student-run publication. Our mission is to provide an outlet for innovative new thinkers and established policymakers to offer perspectives on the politics and policies that shape our nation and our world.
I couldn’t agree more. thanks you for sharing this insight.