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FEBRUARY 17, 1999 •
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« flg BLACK HHTORY MONTH 1999
The Future Of Urban Education
An Urban Futurist’s Perspective from 1888 to 1999... and Beyond.
B y L ybroan J ames
Someone once said that it is
hard to predict the future, par­
ticularly since it has yet to hap­
pen. 1 do not remember who
said it. Nevertheless, I think I
heard it at a black education
conference in Los Angeles about
five years ago.
At the time, I was fresh out
of UCLA and a brand new high
school m ath teacher. I too
thought, like my contemporar­
ies and elder educators, that we
could only influence the future,
but definitely not predict or di­
rect it. In terms of educating
black youth, the only thing that
1 could predict was that they
were doomed to go the way of
the Native Americans it things
continued on the current path.
That was then, and this is
now. As an experienced m ath­
ematician and an Urban Futur­
ist, I now know that you CAN
predict the future...and with
amazing accuracy.
When I speak of predicting
the future, I am referring to a
scientific process using history,
mathematics and logic. And un­
like any other time in history,
we have the tools (the Internet,
multimedia, film and new tech­
nology) to increase our accu­
racy of projections, and to ac­
tually create better future years
in advance. We also have, as a
template, the fortune o f being
able to view the cause and ef­
fect relatio n sh ip s that have
shaped our education over the
last 100 years.
Why Educators need to be
Futurists
As educators, com m unity
leaders, mentors and role mod­
els, we are the greatest influ­
ences on our youth and the fu­
ture o f our communities. Often
times our thinking becomes con­
fined to what “was” or what
“is”, rather than “what can be.”
As futurists, our purpose is to
discover or invent, examine and
evaluate probable and prefer­
able futures. Through this pro­
cess, we create ideal scenarios
of the future, then work back­
wards to where we are today.
Let us suspend our current
thinking, beliefs and views of
“education”, and enter a parallel
world where we travel back in
time, then zoom into the future
through a portal known as the
Black Box.
1888: The Original Afri­
can-American Thinkers and
Educators
During this time, Black people
had been out of slavery for about
twenty-five years. They were
the most innovative and skilled
people in the country. They had
built bu ild in g s, constructed
roads, farmed land and partici­
pated in every aspect o f infra­
structure development. It was
this period that produced our
g re a te st th in k e rs such as
F red erick D o u g las, W .E.B .
D uB ois and Dr. W illiam
McDonald. It was also the first
tim e that B lack people in
America were able to educate
themselves and apply that edu­
cation without interference. The
results: the developm ent o f
Rosewood in Florida, the cre­
ation of “ Black Wall Street” in
Oklahoma and the founding of
the historically black colleges.
This was the most prominent
time in Black history. It was a
time when we viewed education
- its purpose and delivery in its
most effective context. Since
we were forced to be self-reli­
ant, we strategically studied the
American systems, then copied
them (just as the Japanese did
after World War II).
20,b Century:
Education...or Miseducation?
As we entered the 20,h cen­
tury as successful contributors
in fields such as science, math­
ematics, law, business and the
Arts, we came upon four “men­
tal monsters”: Jim Crow laws,
racism, integration and Affir­
mative Action.
The Western education that
black people fought for has pro­
duced a generation that may be
better off individually, but is
much worse off collectively. It
appears that we now look to
become “educated” so that we
can “escape” our communities
and move into other communi­
ties. However, if you were to
study most other ethnic groups,
Building th e Corporation of
th e Future
B y T onia M c D onald
In the year 2020 and b e ­
yond, com panies w ithout a
global com m unications busi-
ness-to -b u sin ess strateg y to
run their business m ay not
survive.
B usinesses that w ere not
nurtured in an incubation su p ­
port system , nor p artn ered in
an interactive cooperative en­
vironm ent w ith at least 50
other sm all business clu sters
- were doom ed to die aw ay.
What is a Cluster?
A C luster is a term in te r­
changeable w ith in cu b ato r.
C lu sters are geo g rap h ic or
virtual c o n cen tratio n s o f in ­
terconnected com panies and
in stitu tio n s in a p a rtic u la r
field. C lusters encom pass an
array o f linked in d u stries and
o th er e n titie s im p o rta n t to
com petition.
C lusters prom ote both com ­
p etition and co operation. R i­
vals com pete in tensely to win
and retain custom ers. W ith ­
out vigorous co m p etitio n , a
c lu ste r w ill not succeed. Yet
th e re is a lso c o o p e ra tio n ,
m uch o f it v e rtical, inv o lv in g
com panies in related in d u s­
tries and local in stitu tio n s.
C om petition can coexist w ith
cooperation because they o c­
cur on d iffe re n t dim ensions
and among d ifferen t players.
The Small Business A dm in­
istratio n (SBA ) rep o rts that
an average o f 9 out o f 10
businesses w ill fail by the end
o f the firs t y e a r. In fa c t,
about 80% o f all sm all b u s i­
nesses fail if not properly nu r­
tured inside o f an in cu b ato r,
c o llab o rativ e, or consortium .
In incubators, sm all busi-
nesses succeed up to 95% o f
the tim e - if they share the
costs o f doing b usiness w ith
other small businesses in a
n urturing, co o perative e n v i­
ro n m e n t. An e n tr e p re n e u r
know s h e /sh e m ust a ttra c t
others w illing to pool their
re so u rc e s and
talen ts to c o l­
le c tiv e ly s u c ­
ceed. E ntrepre­
n e u rs ’ p artn er
w ith o th e r s ,
take risks and
invests in new
ideas.
R e se a rc h
shows that the
fu tu re success
o f any business
depends
on
m em ber-ow ned
a llia n c e s th a t
create and c o l­
laborate in a net­
w o r k
e d
econom y.
C lu s te rs are
Tonia McDonald, Urban Futurist.
c o n d u c iv e to
n ew b u s in e s s
They also lacked tru st for
form ation for a variety o f re a ­
each other in the sharing the
so n s. In d iv id u a ls w o rk in g
cost o f rent and equipm ent.
w ithin a cluster can m ore eas­
People are so unsure about
ily perceive gaps in products
the future that they revert to
or services around which they
their old m ethods o f business,
can build businesses. Beyond
i.e ., s te a lin g in fo rm a tio n ,
th a t, b a rrie rs to e n try are
w o rk in g u n d e r fa ls e p r e ­
low er than elsew here.
tenses.
N eeded assets, sk ills, in ­
Thinking about the future
p u ts and s t a f f a re o fte n
and how com panies and in sti­
rea d ily available at the c lu s­
tutions fit in is an obvious
ter lo cation, w aiting to be as­
necessity for long term suc­
sem bled into a new e n te r­
cess. However, thinking about
prise. Local financial in stitu ­
a collective future and ob­
tions and inv esto rs, already
serving the causes and events
fam iliar w ith the cluster, may
leading up to it, have barely
req u ire a low er risk prem ium
begun to be studied and there­
capital.
fore if largely unpredictable.
In ad d ition, the clu ster of­
A successful consortium ,
ten presents a sig n ifican t lo ­
collaborative, collective and
cal m arket, and an e n tre p re ­
economic engine acts as a suc­
neur may b enefit from e sta b ­
cessful business cluster or in ­
lished relationships. All o f
cubator. Through m em bership
these factors reduce the p er­
fe e s, c o rp o ra tio n s , e d u c a ­
ceived risks o f entry - and o f
tional institutions, small and
e x it, should the e n te rp rise
mid-sized businesses have ac­
fail.
Few people who label them ­ cess to shared, discounted ser­
vices, joint ventures and joint
selves “e n trep ren eu rs” a c tu ­
costs of research and develop­
ally are. W hy? Nine out o f
ten entrep ren eu rs and self-
ment.
Pooling talents, money, risk
em ployed people interview ed
and rewards is a small price to
in the last ten years were un­
pay to join a group that is moving
w illing to share costs with
forward in business success.
others in going into business.
The number of African-American owned businesses in the United States increased 46 percent, from 424,165 to
620,912,between 1987 and 1992. Receipts for these firms rose 63 percent during this span, from $ 19.8 billion to $32.2
billion. The total number of firms in the United States increased 26 percent, to 17.3 million; their receipts grew 67
percent, to $3 t
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thev pursue education so that
they can bring that knowledge
and expertise back to their com­
munity.
This cycle o f m is-directed
education explains why public
schools in urban communities
are struggling to provide a safe,
quality, competitive education.
The following scenario gives an
overview of this vicious cycle.
"Urban communities fight to
send th eir kids to W estern
schools. Once there, the stu­
dents adopt the dominant W est­
ern culture (individualism , ma­
terialism , status and working
for a major corporation). While
in school, the student struggles
to dismiss the label o f “A ffir­
mative Action” by assim ilating
into the dom inant culture, fur­
ther separating from his/her
community. Upon graduation,
they either move out o f their
community or live there and
work outside o f it, giving the
corporation and its com m u­
n ity th e b e st o f th e ir
brainpower.
Because of the lack o f busi­
nesses in urban com m unities,
they have fewer tax dollars to
put into education and the
youth have few role models
and m entors to help them pre­
pare for the future.”
1999 to 2020: Do You See
What I See?
Digital Villages and
Cyberschools
As we zoom to the year
2020, we notice how beautiful
it is, because no one is there!
It is a future ju st w aiting to be
constructed. There is no one
there in our way. There are
none o f the “m onsters” that
exist in the past. Being free to
create, and knowing what we
know about the past 100 years,
we design the ideal educational
system for our urban com m u­
nities; an educational system
that produces great minds that
build the comm unity and cre ­
ates alliances with other com ­
munities.
In the year 2020, the urban
educational system uses the
latest technology, such as the
Internet, videoconferencing, e-
m ail, plasma screens and m ul­
tim edia. These tools are used
to create cyberschools where
students take courses from
around the world, receiving
the best training in the sci­
ences, literature, Arts and his­
tory. Students collaborate and
learn within their communities
while benefiting from the re­
sources and information shared
through networks, previously
restricted for the few. And they
are also free to explore a world
they once believed ended at the
freeway on-ramp.
This new education system
also allows urban youth to par­
ticipate in apprenticeship pro­
grams after school, allowing
them to develop communica­
tion skills and character before
e n te rin g c o lle g e or the
workforce. Barriers to oppor­
tunities are erased, creating a
level playing field. Teachers re­
main current through “just-in-
time” professional development
programs and are able to self-
publish learning materials for
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Lybroan James
use by students throughout the
world.
Now that urban communities
are fully integrated into the glo­
bal educational environm ent,
they are positioned to profit from
the packaging and distribution
of their intellectual properties
and creativity. This would be
sim ilar to the way corporate
America profits from the tal­
ents o f urban youth in the areas
of sports and entertainment, only
now the urban com m unities
would benefit from the fruits of
their talents and labor.
Time up. Welcome back to
1999. I hope you enjoyed your
trip through time, from 1888 to
2020. No matter what the time
period, education is crucial to
the survival and development o f
any community. For urban com­
munities, the key to future suc­
cess lies in controlling the edu­
cational system that educates
its youth, and to use technology
to acquire the resources and
information that will allow us to
compete in the 21s1 century.
Nearly 3 million or 15 percent ofAfrican Americans, ages 25 and over, held a bachelor’s degree or higher in 1998;
of these degree-holders, more than 800,000 had an advanced degree.
The number of African Americans under 35 who were enrolled in college in 1996 (1.5 million) was nearly 40 percent
higher than the number enrolled a decade earlier. Similarly, African American nursery-school enrollment doubled
over the same period, to 702,000.
The
Portland Development Commission
and its staff
would like to salute
the contributions that
Black Americans
have made to this
great nation of ours
The Portland Developm ent Commission
works to bring together community resources
to achieve a vital econom y with healthy
neighborhoods and quality jobs for al,
citizens. The Commission is committed to
working with the community to make our city
a better place to live for all Portlanders.
KA. ,
PDC
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