Students want someone to believe in them

Amplifying the voices of students is a key focus of Big Picture Learning, an organization with the mission of putting students directly at the center of their own learning. Following a discussion hosted by the Kauffman Foundation between Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and creator of the 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones and Carlos Moreno, co-executive director of Big Picture Learning, students built their own conversation from what they heard – the importance of grace and mentorship in education. Especially, in an education system where, as Hannah-Jones put it, not all students are valued; it is a system that was never designed to give Black children the same quality of education as white children.

Dr. Chris Emdin, educator, advocate, and author, and Eunice Mitchell, Big Picture Learning regional director, facilitated the conversation with students Naseem Haamid and Sofia Ervin – both part of Big Picture Learning programs. They picked up from where Hannah-Jones shared her own experience in education.

As a New York Times reporter covering racial injustice, Hannah-Jones has written extensively on what is deeply personal to her own experience – the history of racism and education. She spoke about being bussed to white schools, spending most of her education feeling like she didn’t belong. She believes amidst a lack of resources for BIPOC students is the need for mentorship.

Haamid and Ervin discussed how they have been personally impacted by mentors, and the need for all students to be valued by their educators.

“I think when we connect with mentors and leaders that actually care, we don’t have to prove ourselves. They see something in us that we don’t see in ourselves and give us a chance,” Haamid says.

He went on to talk about the mentors in his life that have put him in a position to excel and have believed in him – something Ervin sees as essential to student success.

“As long as you have somebody there who’s going to believe in you, as long as the child has somebody in their corner, some adult that believes that they can be something useful and amazing, that’s all you need,” Ervin says.

Hannah-Jones and Moreno reflected on the influential people in their lives that believed in them. Those mentors enabled them to believe in themselves, and how the most critical thing given to them – that set them up for success – was grace. A theme that resonated with the students.

“I think most of that grace came from my family growing up and having people who weren’t afraid to like call me out when I was slipping a little bit,” Ervin says.

Haamid added: “As educators, as leaders, we have to make sure that we invest in that time and [are] giving all students grace. Not just the ones that we think are the exceptional ones.”

In the earlier conversation, Moreno said that, “Sadly too many conventional schools don’t afford that type of grace.”

The lack of resources in schools with a majority of low-income Black and Latino students has been further exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic – a crisis that has laid bare racial inequities. According to The New Teacher Project, most students spend “the vast majority of their school days missing out on four crucial resources: grade-appropriate assignments, strong instruction, deep engagement, and teachers with high expectations.”

Haamid says it’s important to him to feel like more than a test grade – that grace should extend beyond test scores and performance and look at a student’s circumstances. Emdin agrees.

“The height of love is high expectations. If I love you, I hold you up to an ideal that is bigger than the circumstances you’re in,” Emdin says.

While the need for additional resources and investment in low-income schools was addressed, Ervin says the key to student success is simply someone believing in them.

“Honestly, there’s no secret sauce, there’s no secret recipe to it. We just have mentors and teachers that believe in us and fuel us to go further.”