EDUCATION!!!

Education…

By Brother Tracy Gibson.....

I can’t stress enough, and you have probably heard it a million times before, but stay in school. If you are in High School, get your diploma. If you are a Black youth and fortunate enough to be going to college or university—get that degree. THEN think about a wife or husband and family. If you can get an advanced degree or two, that is even better.
Education is one sure-fire way to stay out of trouble and out of jail. Of course if you are just curious about drugs and the thug life that is something that leads to no where or jail and sometimes real fast. The thug life and illegal drugs will lead to trouble and heart ache--for you and your family. YOU DON’T WANT TO GO DOWN THAT ROUTE. If you do, you probably don’t like or love yourself and you may have had difficulties growing up with a lot of pain and problems that have not been recognized or dealt with in any deep or effective manner. GET HELP!! There are therapists, pastors and other lay people who can help you walk and talk yourself through the problems that are taking you away from the educational path and leading you in other destructive ways. GET HELP!!
If you are young and in school now, please stay in school. Take plenty of math and science in grade school, middle school and high school. This will help you eventually get a good-paying, more stable job in an industry you like or in a technical field. Get tutoring to get and keep those grades up. Math and science will also help you later if you want to go into business or be an entrepreneur. Studies show that more CEO’s and Presidents of organizations and businesses have better grades in math and science and have more extensive experience in math and science.
You will never know how far you can go with your education unless you try. But don’t just try. Really apply yourself. Give it your best shot. Your parents have spent a lot of time; energy and money to get you on that campus—DON’T Blow It!! If you are finding school too stressful and bombing out, try a Community College for a few years and maybe working a small job on campus. Visit the student activities office and your guidance counselor to ask about work-study programs. Internship programs are also great for getting a foot in the door by offering job experience earlier on.
Make the historically Black Colleges and Universities a priority because the teachers there don’t just see you as a paycheck, a face and a number in a classroom. They are really a lot more dedicated and caring about Black students and want to see you prosper. They also have greater expectations than most White teachers at mostly White institutions do. That is not what I feel. That is a fact.
If you are lacking parental units (parents), but have a significant other or a grandparent who wants to help out with school, let them. GOD willing you will be able to re-pay them down the road. You may have to work through school. I worked for one year during school at McDonald's. It helped with books and food and made my parents that much prouder when I got my degree from Ohio State in
Journalism / PR in 1978.

There is a funny thing about learning and education.  Some people are driven by more than what the economy says about study, learning and education.  While there are lawyers who are unemployed, there are also artists making money hand over fist.  I think you have to take all the media and hype about engineering, chemistry, math, trigonometry, geometry, biology, physics, and all those other so-called hard sciences with a grain of salt as it were.  If you are totally driven to be an artist, a singer, a fashion designer, a playwright, a writer, a journalist, a novelist, a non-fiction writer, a set designer, a movie director, a movie producer--guess what.... GO FOR IT!!!  But do some study about the field you want to go into and see what the competition is like.  Read about the leaders in that industry.  The trend setters.... Read about the people who are breaking New Ground and who are driven and focused and directed.  See if there are any special racial barriers that can be thrown in your Way.  Measure your level of determination and see if you are REALLY, REALLY serious about taking five to 10 years of your young life and REALLY, REALLY studying the Way you need to study and with the intensity you need to study.  IT could take a life time to get what you want and where you want out of a certain field.  For example I still haven't published a single book through regular channels and I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was eight [8].  I have studied and studied. I have a degree in Journalism.  I studies towards my masters Degree twice, but failed.  Guess What... I am 56 and I keep going.  Plenty of people have stepped over me to get to where they are.  I have had things, possessions and ideas and actual writing stolen from me so people could put a little butter on their road and slip ahead of me.  But, guess WHAT else... I have a strong belief in GOD and I think He or She will eventually make sure that TOTAL reciprocity comes about and all things are fair and equal and I WILL get my books published and I WILL have my business ideas come to fruition and I WILL get the financial successes I have worked for all my life.  Knowing GOD and Believing Him or Her is very important.  They are also two different things.  When you parents take you by the hand and takes you to church when you are a child, you will probably end up believing in GOD.  But when you get older and go to the church of your own choosing, you will get to know GOD on a personal basis.  This personal relationship is very strong and healthy and can give you the proper guidance, leadership and faith to make it through just about anything including years of frustration and even years of what some people might see as failure.  Remember they don't live in your shoes.  They don't know what you had to go through just to get food on the table for your family. They don't know what sacrifices you had to make.  If you are fortunate enough to have chosen a subject, stay on course through out college or university as much as possible.  If things get too hard try very hard before you change that major.  You deserve success.  And, like my Neice Thandewe--who is graduating from Spelman in a few short weeks--said Success is in the eye of the beholder. We need bold and courageous actors just like we need bold and courageous engineers and mathematicians. We need truth seekers, men and women of merit, men and women of strength and men and women with string faith and string ethical backbone.  Don't be a successful mamby pamby person. Never give in... Never give UP... 
Solutions: Education itself is a solution. If you have the qualifications you can break down many barriers. You can begin the process of lifting yourself and your race up, but you have to have the right attitude—a positive, proactive, self-respecting, I-Can-Do-This attitude that won’t quite because I can assure you, you will be tested during your stay at school. Not just book tests, but you will probably be tested by other students and your professors as to your seriousness and due diligence and stick-to-it-tiveness about school. Be ready for some racism if you attend a White school also. But you can do this, if you have prepared yourself mentally. Don’t let anybody tell you, you can be a nuclear physicist unless you fail the tests and midterms and finals and can’t make heads or tails of the text books. Then they can badmouth you. Don’t worry; there are other subjects to be tackled. It you did well throughout high school in math and science and placed in high numbers in those subjects in your SAT’s then there is no reason why you can’t be a doctor, a lawyer or the nuclear physicist you dream of being. Remember nurses, teachers and city planners also make good money and can build careers that will amount to recognition, respect from the community and other rewards as well. Don’t let anything or anyone stop you. If you find yourself around people who want to hold you back, find some new friends…..!!