Oprah Not Alone in Her Frustrations With Inner-City Kids, School Systems

Move over, Bill Cosby, you've got some company.

Oprah Winfrey, who made headlines this week with the opening of her $40 million, all-girls leadership academy in South Africa, is none too happy with how inner-city American kids take for granted an education.

In an interview with Newsweek's Allison Samuels, the billionaire media mogul said she has given millions of dollars to American schools, but has become disenchanted with the materialistic attitude among children.

"Say what you will about the American educational system — it does work," she told Newsweek. "If you are a child in the United States, you can get an education."

She added: "I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn't there. If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school."

While some focused on the good deed of her opening a school to train the next generation of female leaders in South Africa, others focused on these statements, angry that a women who grew up poor in Mississippi would be so dismissive and callous in her critique of inner-city children.

My e-mail box blew up with folks wondering why she didn't open a similar school on the South Side of Chicago. Others called her an elitist slob who has forgotten where she has come from. Yet a few others were flat out ticked off by her painting the mindset of inner-city kids with a broad brush.

While I understand this position, and am fully aware of the serious shortcomings of the American education system — especially when you note that many suburban schools, because of high property taxes, look like college campuses, and those attended by mostly black and Hispanic children are falling apart — Oprah is dead-on in her assessment.

To understand Oprah's concern — and that of Cosby — is to step back and realize the most fundamental argument they are making: that education isn't seen as the way out of a desperate situation.

When Cosby went off two years ago as the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision was celebrated, what was missing was the mindset of the pre-Brown parents.

A multitude of black parents in the South didn't know how to read, some not moving past the sixth grade, but if there was one thing that was definitely going to happen, their children were going to get an education. It was a mantra that was virtually beaten into the minds of black children, and that's why we had a generation of African Americans who exceeded far and above their parents' wildest dreams.

School wasn't a choice; it was a necessity. Their books were tattered? Fine, read them anyhow. A white teacher would tell a black child to forget being a lawyer or a doctor? The parents would say, "The hell with 'em. You will aspire and achieve." Education was an all-consuming focus, and that's why the tears were shed when their children walked across the high school graduation stage, and they pinched pennies to send them to college.

Jesus was the way to get to heaven. Education was the way to defeat Jim Crow. That's the way it was in black households.

But that attitude is missing today. Black and Hispanics — who largely make up the inner cities these days — aren't so mad at our education system that they are forcing it to shut down. Gone are the freedom days when kids were kept out of school to protest unequal funding and instead trained in churches and community centers. What we have today is complaining and finger pointing, but not enough direct action to change the situation.

If there was one mistake Oprah made, it was that she blamed the children. It's not their fault. They are only repeating what they get from their parents: a desire for material wealth, rather than something powerful and life-altering, such as an education.

Oprah, don't just flee to South Africa to find students who appreciate an education. Find and continue to support similar children in America. But also use your TV, radio and magazine platforms to speak to — and scold, if necessary — the countless parents who make excuses for their children not being able to read and write. Challenge them to step up like their ancestors, who would read by dim lanterns, hoping for a better tomorrow.

Children must know that dropping out isn't the answer. Refusing to "speak good English" isn't the way to a better future. Your school system may not have the best teachers or the top-of-the-line computers and books, but when you put the passion and desire of parents into action, there is no doubt our children will have a bright future — and only an education can make that possible.

Roland S. Martin is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives On Faith." Please visit his Web site at www.rolandsmartin.com. To find out more about Roland Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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