It’s true that public schooling in the US got its foundation from heavy church involvement during the pioneer days. Candidly, just look at the private and even public colleges & universities that were once affiliated with religious denominations. But, I believe that the issue goes deeper, than what is on the surface. There are the democratic principles of engagement in terms of the rights & privileges of a citizen. Something that was denied black people for a long time in America only because the US Constitution or the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that mankind with black skin who were created by a Sovereign God, was only 3/5 human beings.

Now, this wasn’t saying this! It was a bunch of white slave owners who are also were the Founding Fathers. So, there has been a lot of internal strife & toil within America every since its beginning. By the way, John Adams, the 2nd President of the USA was adamantly against slavery within the borders of the United States of America.

So it was inevitable that one day a war would break out between the States of the South and North. And victory finally went to the Union troops who fought on the side of the federal government. That same Union Army became victorious, and with valor went into conquered territories of the South even before Appomattox when Lee surrendered to Grant. The bloody Civil War that America had fought had come to an end. And liberating the slave populations roughly between 6-4 million at that time was the next order of business.

Interestingly, this liberation process had started even before the war ended because of a war policy conducted by all Yankee Generals in seeing to it that all slave plantations be transformed into Freedom Schools as much as possible. Yes, this was the act of planting seeds and help came from a lot of freedom loving white people from East Coast places like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. The instituting of these Freedom Schools were a big deal! And yes, these early forerunners, our the ancestors to poorly performing Inner City School Districts and their schools? Anyway, the key historical focus is on the semi-literate or illiterate freed slaves and His children. Sure, there was a bible background in all of this but you would be amazed on how much of the Holy Book was remembered rather Read Aloud!

A native genius of those who many thought should have been “decimated souls” found a way out by seeking The Word …. Learning how to interpret the word …. And eventually propagating how to read the classically, such as, what a Doctor of Pedagogy would do in teaching the children of the poor. Remember, all of this is being done by descendants for the most part of chattel slaves and at least 40% of them are still on public assistance (TANF and SSI).

Therefore, because of economic disparities, America still resembles in a modern way a society of the Rich and the Poor. Children in more affluent sectors of stable jurisdictions receive a different type of education than children of middle class or upper middle class parents who don’t use Private Schools. Clearly, this is an area of injustice and it’s the primary reason why parents of very low-income families, at least one of the and preferably the male (Father) or its equivalent should be able to attend Parent Camp.

Statistics show more than an iota of evidence that many black boys have trouble with scholastics and citizens domains at the public school because there are not enough male authority figures, and definitely not enough black men in positions of authority. The US Department of Education is on record in stating that only 2% of licensed and certified teachers on a national scale is black males. That’s a doggone shame and I wonder just how much “institutional racism” that Secretary Duncan always points out is the culprit for the tragedy.

Thus, we should try to morally work out this one. Why not see to it that a select number of black men from very low-income families receive full scholarships to attend Parent Camp. Other ethnic groups who are poor should have proportional representation at Parent Camp too! Again, so much by a Free Negro Class that existed even during America’s darkest hour of supporting slavery throughout its federal union from 1776-1863.

Poignantly, the Emancipation Proclamation then establishing public schools for former slaves and their children and rules & regulations are set up to become policy and practice. Hopefully, that has now been the tradition and custom for at least the last 150 years, but still there’s a struggle of equality in the schools, while the paradox of America landing a man on the moon is an occurrence of national will.

P.S. The Obama Administration can tolerate the complete vanishing of $54 million from the VA Budget in 2014. Why couldn’t a disadvantaged father who is also a veteran be allowed an all expense award to attend Parent Camp? Isn’t that a fair request or not?