American Morning

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June 29th, 2010
12:00 PM ET

First class of Urban Prep's seniors all college-bound

(CNN) – Chicago's Urban Prep charter school launched with a mission: to get more African-American teens back in school and send them on to college. The school's founder says over half of the black males in the city's public schools drop out before finishing high school, and only one in 40 will get a college degree. But now, every single member of Urban Prep's first-ever graduating class has been admitted to a four-year college or university. The school's founder and CEO, Tim King, joined us on Tuesday's American Morning to tell us how they did it, along with one member of this year's graduating class, Cameron Barnes.


Filed under: Education • U.S.
soundoff (4 Responses)
  1. cloneAlone

    With our U.S. Public Education System people in general, let alone any particular race, tend to believe the system, teachers and administrators are responsible for making sure the children graduate and go to college. The parents have to step up and say "Good grades first (A+ to B+), then sports, cell phones, video games, cars etc... The rewards are only going to be available to you after you do the work, because that is how the real world works." The parents then have to make any resources necessary, such as time to go over their home work with them or tutors to work with them, for the child to learn and obtain those grades through their own work and efforts. Other countries are passing us by in these respects and we leave our children in their dust when we just try to be their friend and make sure they have good self esteem, instead of good grades.

    June 30, 2010 at 10:28 am |
  2. Leslie

    that school was founded because of the low graduation rate of African American males but the school does not exclude underprivileged white kids. also often times white kids do not attend predominately black schools...I am just saying...let's keep it real.

    June 30, 2010 at 7:13 am |
  3. mags

    It easier for white kid to attend vs a black. I applaud the school and the parents. ALl parents black or white should be proactive in their children's education and stop waiting for someone to do their job.

    June 30, 2010 at 6:30 am |
  4. tn8chusrdhd

    Amazing! Not one of these students is white! Is that a prerequisite for going to that school. You can't tell me that there are no unfortunate white kids in that area. Although I applaud what this school is doing, I am so sick of hearing about the underprivileged black student. What about the underprivileged white kids?

    June 29, 2010 at 5:11 pm |