At Crenshaw High School in South Los Angeles, senior Marquis Andrews (pictured above) says he is struggling to focus and wishes he could drop out like his friends.

Indeed, nearly half of all black males won’t graduate from high school, according to a recent report from the Schott Foundation for Public Education.

Crenshaw High School seniors Gregory Michael Williams and Torreon Johnson interviewed staff and students about students’ attitudes toward school as a part of a Social Justice and the Law Academy at the school in South Los Angeles.

Students and teachers seem to agree; while the situation is far from ideal, strong determination can, and will triumph.

Legacy Roundtable is a cadre of educators, business people and community leaders dedicated to developing educational opportunities for African American males.

For the past three years, the group has focused on improving math skills and increasing college enrollment. The main objective of the organization’s Accelerated Summer Mathematics Academy (ASMA) is to have 500 African-American scholars complete Calculus by 2012.

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In Los Angeles County, high black male dropout rates are not confined to the inner city. Some of the county’s highest dropout rates for black boys are far, geographically, from inner city areas such as Sout L.A. It’s a problem that has spread far and wide.

The stereotypes are all over Crenshaw High School: black boys in saggy britches talking smack to each other constantly and texting in class; teenaged fathers; boys on house arrest sporting ankle bracelets that hug the outside of their white tube socks and nestle against their name brand sneakers like the latest fashion accessory.
There are the masses that come to school late with McDonald’s in-hand and the ones that don’t come to school at all.
And coming to school means crossing gang territories that rival Crenshaw High’s purported affiliation, a dangerous feat for all regardless of their involvement, said Crenshaw High Dean William Vanderberg.
These are the students you hear about on television and in news reports.
These are the statistics: Across the nation, more than half of black males did not receive diplomas with their cohort in the 2005-06 school year according to the 2008 edition of the Schott Foundation’s 50 State Report on black males.
These are the casualties of the education system.
With a graduation rate of a mere 57 percent, Crenshaw High can seem like your stereotypical “urban” school. And in Alex Caputo-Pearl’s Social Justice and the Law Academy at Crenshaw High, Caputo-Pearl sees an even harsher reality: nearly two-thirds of his students may not be graduating in May he said.
But some of his students, short on credits and often times even shorter on attention, in this newly-formed academy still have goals for after high school: community college, big name schools careers in everything from law to being business owners, social work and maybe even real estate brokers, and big dreams that — statistically speaking — are out of their league.
And despite recent improvements of 5.4 percentage points since 2003, black students continue to lag behind whites and Asians in becoming academically eligible to enter California’s two public university systems, according to a recently-released study by the California Postsecondary Education Commission.
With black males, the statistics are worse: the four-year dropout rate for black males in high school is 46 percent, according to 2006-07 statistics released from the California Department of Education.

Experts blame this state-wide statistic on students’ shortages of required courses and inadequate counseling at high schools, such as Crenshaw High, in low-income, high minority areas, according to a Los Angeles Times article.
So while the statistics may be counting them out, Caputo-Pearl and many of his students still dare to try to be counted in another kind of statistic: those who achieve the American Dream. They dare to hope for lives beyond the borders of South Los Angeles.
Whether or not they’ll get there, well, that’s the struggle.

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“Chris, take off the earphones. Chris… Chris,” says lead teacher of Crenshaw High’s Social Justice and the Law Academy Alex Caputo-Pearl.
The bell has rung and class is in session but the lanky young man is still bobbing his head. The white chord and ear buds of an iPod are clearly visible against his chocolate skin. The music, loud enough to be heard two rows over and all the way to the front of the class.
Head down, barely able to hear Caputo-Pearl, Chris Mitchell looks around at the stillness of the classroom and, finally, takes them out of his ears but keeps the music cranked up.
Another look and another request from Caputo-Pearl and he turns it off.
Chris, 17, is a Crenshaw High senior with your average teenage dreams: money, power, fame. He makes the goals sound easy.
“I’m going overseas to play basketball after high school,” he says. “I know some people. I have connects.”
When asked about how realistic that might be, Chris, who plays point guard, gives a look that says, “I know I’ll make it.”
But like so many others with hoop dreams and basketball on the brain, there’s no guarantee and the odds are stacked against him. Fewer than one percent of college basketball players ever make it to the professional level. And his grades are admittedly coming up short. Perhaps though, they’re good enough to get him into the University of Connecticut’s business program — another lofty goal — before he heads overseas for self-predicted basketball superstardom.
“I want to build an empire like Jay-Z” a music and apparel mogul, award-winning rapper and partial owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, Chris says about his career plans.
Ask him, and he’s already well on his way in some shape or form. “I already applied,” he says about the University of Connecticut. And a response letter has already come.
He hasn’t opened it yet. “I’m waiting for my birthday; April 21.”

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After class on a Monday, Caputo-Pearl calls a handful of students to stay after the bell.
Marquis Andrews is one of them.
“Some of you have different things going on with the CAHSEE (California High School Exit Examination). Not all of you have super high GPA’s. Not all of you have super low GPA’s. You are exactly the kind of kids this can help,” he says urging them to attend a free SAT preparation class on the coming Saturday. There’s even a free breakfast he adds for extra bait. “And free lunch, but most of all, it’s food for you mind.”
Continuing the sell, Caputo-Pearl says, “This session could mean a bump of 40 or 60 extra points (on your SAT).”
The group stands in silence, but not for long.
“If we have a book, why we gotta come?,” one asks.
“If you don’t know how to use it, it can hurt you,” he rebutts.
“But all you gotta do is just read it,” says another student.
The banter continues.
Caputo-Pearl tells them when and where the session will be held. “If you need a ride I’ll take you,” he says.
With 16 years of teaching experience in the elementary schools of Compton Unified School District and at the middle school and high school levels of Los Angeles Unified School District, Caputo-Pearl wants his students to be the ones that make it.

“For me, I’ve always been interested in public education because I see it as a social justice issue. And, I grew up in Maryland in very segregated schools and my parents were some of the few parents in my neighborhood who supported the bussing program to integrate schools.”
“Because of that experience I was exposed to pretty stark inequalities in the school system,” he said.

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Marquis hates school.
Really.
“I hate school…..there’s too much work. Teachers expect you to care about the work they give you, I mean, like really care, and I don’t,” he said.

School bores him.
He’s in a rush to get grown. He wants to “make money” and knows that college is the way to a career. But somehow, while Marquis finds high school work tedious and boring, he’s looking forward to attending college.
It makes sense to him.
“In college, people there are more ready to learn,” he explains.
At Crenshaw, he sees gangs and disruptions, meaningless work and distractions. Some, he wishes he could give into.
“I’d rather just hang out with my friends,” he says. But, he comes to school regularly instead.
His G.P.A. is 2.5.
Not stellar. Not terrible.
As of March, with a graduation date looming just a few months, Marquis’ apathy toward school increases.

He has yet to apply anywhere for college.
“I’m just trying to get through.”

Website Title: My Bruthas’ Keepers: The jail house or the school house?

The Pitch: Black boys in our nation’s public schools aren’t learning. A disproportionate number of them are dropping out of high school and going to jail. This site tracks new developments in education relating to this demographic.
Audience: Urban educators, urban school administrators, federal and state legislators, parents, philanthropists and activists. The information and resources presented on this Website will help people hold legislators and even their local educational agencies accountable to one of the nation’s most under-served populations.
Multi-Media Components
Counters: Similar to the National Debt Clock, there will be two counters on the site: one that tracks the amount of money going into the development and operation of federal, state and local prisons, and one that tracks the amount of money going into the development and operation of kindergarten through twelfth grade schools. These counters will track national numbers but, via a drop-down menu, track state levels as well.

Original Content: About one-third of my site’s content will be original, while the rest will be aggregated from sources world-wide. The original content will be things such as; magazine-length features and creative/artistic presentations such as narrated photo journals and blogs.
Interactive Map: I will recreate a map such as The Schott Foundation’s “Inequity Index” which shows graduation rates of black males nation-wide and is available at
Aggregated Content: Aggregated content will include news stories, feature stories, studies and budget analyses (local, state and federal) that independently or collaboratively address education and prison but specifically as these two topics relate to black males.
Searchable Sidebars: A list of grant availabilities, books and related literature
Time Stamps: Content will refresh daily. Larger features will change weekly to bi-weekly, or even monthly, depending on the number of contributors I have and the deadlines I set.
Links: There will be links to the studies that we analyze, sites like the National Education Association as well as local educational resources, prison information, and contact information and Websites of featured programs.
Searchable Databases: Like The Los Angeles Times’ statistical display of school scores available at , I would do a statistical, searchable, school-by-school display of standardized testing scores for black males in the nation’s top 20 school districts with the highest black male enrollment.
I will also include a nationwide map that, as you move the timeline bar, shows you the increasing number of suspensions of African-American boys from 1974 to 2004.
Business Plan: The site will be financed through advertising from charter schools who are looking for students, historically black colleges/universities and urban school districts, mentoring groups such as the Boys and Girls Clubs and Big Brothers Big Sisters, grants, philanthropists and general donors.