The Baltimore Algebra Project

In a recent issue of Baltimore Magazine, I read a story about three Baltimore City students, now college students, who are advocating for a better school system. The Black Boys Report, issued this past summer by the Schott Foundation, cites Baltimore city as one of the worst school systems in the country in educating black boys - ranking it as one of the lowest performing large districts for educating black males. Their efforts are greatly needed.

The Algebra Project, founded by civil rights activist and math educator Robert Moses, is a national mathematics literacy effort that helps low-income students and students of color achieve mathematical skills and promotes social activism. The program trains and pays students to tutor their peers in math, with chapters in cities such as Chicago and Boston. However, the Baltimore chapter has extended beyond their focus of tutoring to advocate for change in their community.

In the photo are Cherdaya Allen, Nicole Cheatom and Chris Goodman. The article highlights Goodman's story of how he became involved with the project and a trip to a suburban high school that sparked his activism. By Evan Serpick:

“Chris Goodman got involved in Baltimore's Algebra Project in 2001, a year after the group began tutoring. As an eighth grader at Stadium School, he didn't pay much attention to his school work, preferring to play basketball and video games. His teacher recommended he go to the Project's tutoring sessions and he agreed, mostly because they had free snacks, he admits now. The extra help improved his grades and the next year, as a freshman at City College, he began working as an Algebra Project tutor. But the event that truly changed Goodman's life was an Algebra Project trip to Eastern Tech, a public high school in Baltimore County [fyi, Baltimore's more affluent suburb]. “There were cars in the engineering room, two gyms, and a library filled with books," he says, eyes still widening at the memory. “That just blew my mind. They always told us City is one of the best schools in the country and I was like ‘Wow’. They're lying.’ I got angry.”

Soon after, Goodman helped launch the Algebra Project's advocacy committee and became its chairman. He and other committed students went to school board and City Council meetings, met with superintendents and legislators, and ultimately decided they couldn't rely on public officials to fight for them.

“I used to think, yeah, schools are pretty messed up, but people are trying to change it on North Avenue, down at City Hall, [and] in Annapolis,” says Goodman, now a sophomore at Morgan State. “We went down there and found out they're not trying to change it. A lot of them feel like they can't change it. They're satisfied with the schools not having toilet paper. They don't lose any sleep over the fact that 50 percent of males that go into high school don't finish. So I thought, you have to spread the word, you have to let people know because the people sitting in those big comfortable chairs, they're not trying to hear this.”

The article cites one example of the group’s activism that shut down a city gala:

“And in May, they camped outside City Hall to demand that $3 million in funding for after-school programs like the Algebra Project that had been cut from the budget be restored. Mayor Sheila Dixon met with the students and suggested that instead of working as tutors, they could get jobs at the new Target in the Mondawmin Mall. (Sidebar: Excuse me but, WTH?) Undeterred, they launched a hunger strike and brought 200 angry students to a gala the mayor had planned to promote youth programs in the city, turning it into a mass protest. As a result of the ongoing agitation, Mayor Dixon last month announced the creation of the seven-member Youth Employment Opportunities Task Force, to include three representatives from Peer-to-Peer Youth Enterprises that will likely help fund several youth-employment programs in the city, including the Baltimore Algebra Project.”

Never underestimate the power of our youth. Do you work with youth attending public school in an under resourced community? Try taking them to a well-resourced suburban school so they can see firsthand the inequities in our nation's school system. Use it as a learning activity and to encourage them to invest in their community.

To learn more about the program and its Peer-to-Peer Youth Enterprises initiative, read the full article here.

Related website: The Young People's Project

Source: Baltimoremagazine.net
Photo: Daniel Bedell