The ignorance issue

This coming Friday (5/29/2015), I'll be presenting a program; I've been asked by a few counselors to discuss the benefits of education over ignorance. Yeah, ignorance is a real problem in here. Guys talk in their own lingo--"I can't call it" and "true fact." They believe every inmate.com rumor that goes around ("did you hear the governor just brought back 65%?" there never was 65%!). And guys show up for their second, third, sometimes fourth time and tell you, "This is it. Ain't coming back to this rodeo again." Only they do the same stupid things: "I don't need no education; I'm fine just the way I am."

No you're not. The late great Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "every man is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."

Here are the facts:

Poor black kids have almost no hope of reaching the American dream if they come from impoverished backgrounds, no education, and lack two parent families. The only way to break that cycle is getting a college degree.

This nation has a major problem with economic disparity, and, as most realistic people are beginning to realize, you can't separate economic disparity from racial injustice. Poverty is, in many ways, black and white.

A felon has almost a three times higher unemployment rate than a non-felon; add to that the fact that society stigmatizes the newly released, and you create a toxic stew of failure for those who really want to work and make a decent living.

What breaks that? Education. A college-educated felon has an unemployment rate at about the same level as their non-felon counterparts.

American dream? Here's a real eye-opener--the wealthy are getting wealthier and the middle class and poor are languishing. Not since the gilded age or the age of Morgan and Rockefeller have we seen such a disparity of income. Meanwhile, politicians keep talking about more tax breaks for the wealthy (like the estate tax--how many families have the net worth covered by the estate tax? not many).

And we continue to lock up poor people at greater rates than wealthy.

Hey, black kids and white kids use drugs in the same percentages; it's just black kids go to jail and white kids go to rehab.

I'll tell the 150 guys listening to me that the idea of being an "entrepreneur" is a gamble at best--most have no start up cash--who's going to stake you to begin? Plus, over 90% of start up businesses fail in the first year. "Get your degree; get a job with a company with benefits; get your life going."

Those are the hard facts--but ignoring them doesn't mean they don't exist. That applies as well for the country. It's time for a real discussion by politicians about economic disparity, racial disparity and the effects of mass incarceration, poor education, poverty, and economic unfairness in wages on this country's goal of all its citizens reaching the American dream.

Facts are facts. They are not always pleasant, but the truth will out.