June 23, 2015
Dr. Steve Perry Talks Leadership, Education, and Our Children
The academic community has labeled you a thought leader in innovative education. What are you doing differently (in thinking and dealing with the issues on ground) that you think is making you stand out?
What is stunning to me is that my youngest son asked me, “Dad, why do people call you controversial?†I said, “I really don’t know.†I believe that all children, if given access to a quality education, will learn. My guess is that the other people may not believe that. I had a conversation with a California legislator the other day who said you need to consider poverty. I was like, “What does that mean? If kids are poor they can’t learn?†She said no. So I asked, “What’s the best poverty program? She responded, “Education.”
The other thing is that the teachers’ unions are behind the crumbling school systems. Low expectations are the root of the problem. Don’t do something completely egregious, you will keep your job below average. They don’t want data to be used to monitor their members because it can reveal an uncomfortable truth. I am willing to call a spade a spade and a problem, a problem.
You were born into your own family’s third-generation of poverty. What about your own experiences have impacted the work you do today?
When I was about 9 years old, my mom was a member of our tenant’s association. One day we were in a meeting and there were these guys at the head of the table. My mother seemed so small to me behind table and in relationship to the other men. Mom was asking for credit. At that time, you had to pay for oil in public housing–cash. They wouldn’t just give it to you. My mom thought that was wrong. All cash on delivery for everything. This was before laws that they said companies could not cut off heat in winter.
I watched my mom fight for what she believed in and was empowered by her struggle. I was like, “aren’t we human?“ It didn’t seem right. But I couldn’t do anything at the time; I would have gotten my little behind locked up. So, yeah, I grew up with a chip on my shoulder. But as a result, I am not afraid to stand up for what I know is right, or acknowledge that wrong is wrong.
People are doing the community wrong, and we’ve waited so long—400+ years and we’re still begging for basic stuff. In Baltimore and New Haven (as well as all over the rest of the country), people are still trying to learn to read. It’s a travesty. At this rate, it may actually take about 75 years to close the achievement gap. Perhaps even 100 years, research shows.
The politics and the expectations of fatherhood are experienced differently in America, depending on the shade of your skin. Of course income and social status are part of the analysis. Can you talk to me about being a Black father in America, including your fears and expectations of your own children?
One of the hardest things about being a black father—who didn’t grow up with one—is answering the question of what does it mean to be a father who is black? We’re just trying to figure out how to do this thing when we’ve never been led by a man in our life. All of our time is spent feeling our way through it. I do think about my own father and the fears that both he and I grew up with, the potential of being involved in crime and being locked up.