Post by captaggie on Aug 7, 2005 16:14:08 GMT -5
www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0805/07mcnair.html
Late astronaut's brother on mission to educate
By BILL TORPY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/07/05
Carl McNair, whose brother Ronald died in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster, believes the crew of the Discovery will arrive safely tomorrow.
But he is not so confident about the future of the shuttle's mission as NASA struggles with the fleet's safety.
Carl McNair travels the nation to inspire minority students with the story of his brother, who died in the Challenger disaster in 1986.
McNair is also split on his concerns for the nation's African-American students, whose test scores and exposure to mathematics and tech fields have lagged behind white students.
Carl McNair is repeatedly heartened by all the eager and devoted minority students he comes across on his travels to carry the Ronald E. McNair story to colleges and summer camps across the country.
His brother's story is the quintessential American up-by-the-bootstraps tale: The son of an autobody mechanic gets a doctorate from MIT in lasers and becomes an astronaut who took a saxophone into space.
He used to tell students, "Before you make a dream come true, you must first have one."
A federally funded college scholarship with Ronald McNair's name grants about $42 million a year to 4,000 low-income and minority students.
And Carl McNair is working on a book to honor his brother. "Slave Ship to Space Ship" is the working title.
"It's a book about hope," he said.
But Carl McNair worries not enough black students are readying themselves to excel in an increasingly competitive world.
This year's state curriculum tests show Georgia's black students are closing the achievement gap with white students in early grades, but the gap remains large in the middle grades and is even growing in some areas.
A Harvard University report found that 47 percent of Georgia's black students and 43 percent of Hispanic students graduate on time, compared with 64 percent of non-Hispanic white students.
Things are worse in DeKalb County at McNair High School, named as a tribute to McNair's late brother. The freshman class of 2001 had 505 students; only 40 percent graduated last spring.
McNair High had an 85 percent failure rate on the algebra test during the state's most recent end-of-course tests. McNair High has a new principal, who could not be reached Friday for comment.
The school traditionally has had low scores. Part of the explanation is 75 percent of its students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches because of low income. Such students typically score lower on tests. But studies show middle-class black students also lag behind middle-class white students.
Carl McNair winced when hearing McNair's scores.
"That's disappointing, really disappointing," he said. "Part of it is a culture thing. It's been 20 years. Only some know Ronald McNair was an astronaut."
Dislike of hard work
McNair recently was visiting a metro Atlanta school where he was told 70 percent of the students come from teenage mothers. "No men to be found," he said.
Ronald McNair saw himself as a role model and planned to be a physics professor after leaving the space program.
"You have to have role models," Carl McNair said. "I talk to kids. They want to play ball or be a rapper. You see the videos and the Bentleys and the great-looking women. They think, 'Six years of school or I can do it next week?' And so it's bling, bling."
"That whole notion of dedicated, hard work," he paused, "People don't want to work hard."
"We came through the era where we were black, and we were proud. We felt an obligation to do our best. We wanted to make our parents and community proud. A lot of our young people have been lured into thinking everything's all right."
Later, McNair started to say something and caught himself. "I don't want to sound like Bill Cosby: 'They're not holding up their end of the bargain,' " referring to a comment the comedian said about low-income, low-achieving black people.
"I think we need to keep reading, that's what it's all about," he said. "My focus is to show young folks, especially African-Americans, there's something out there. They'll ask, 'Why am I taking this math?' We have to show them."
'It's all about exposure'
And that's what puts Carl McNair on airplanes flying from city to city to tell his brother's story.
He is president of the Dr. Ronald E. McNair Foundation Inc., which lobbied the U.S. Department of Education to start the McNair scholarship program. The foundation, which McNair said has had financial "challenges" the past three years, sets up up summer and after-school programs to expose minority and low-income students to technology and to people who have achieved.
"It's all about exposure," said McNair, who also works as a business consultant and lives in a subdivision in southwest Fulton County. "If you don't know what's out there, you can't do it."
McNair said his late brother, as an undergrad at the historically black North Carolina A&T State University, went to Duke University on a summer research project. The program showed him he could fit in a challenging, demanding program. It helped change his life.
McNair is proud of the hundreds of McNair scholars across the nation — they attend about 180 schools. He tries to see as many of them as he can to tell Ronald's inspirational story. A Department of Education study of the program released this year found that "more McNair students enter graduate school than similar students." But those gains narrow after three years in graduate school.
"This suggests that although the McNair program helps participants enroll in graduate school, they may have difficulty staying enrolled once there," the study said, pointing out minority and low-income students often have less financial and social support, making it difficult to weather the difficulties of post-graduate studies.
McNair said the mission to educate — just as the mission to explore space — must continue.
"All you can do is plant the seeds and hope they grow," he said.
Late astronaut's brother on mission to educate
By BILL TORPY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/07/05
Carl McNair, whose brother Ronald died in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster, believes the crew of the Discovery will arrive safely tomorrow.
But he is not so confident about the future of the shuttle's mission as NASA struggles with the fleet's safety.
Carl McNair travels the nation to inspire minority students with the story of his brother, who died in the Challenger disaster in 1986.
McNair is also split on his concerns for the nation's African-American students, whose test scores and exposure to mathematics and tech fields have lagged behind white students.
Carl McNair is repeatedly heartened by all the eager and devoted minority students he comes across on his travels to carry the Ronald E. McNair story to colleges and summer camps across the country.
His brother's story is the quintessential American up-by-the-bootstraps tale: The son of an autobody mechanic gets a doctorate from MIT in lasers and becomes an astronaut who took a saxophone into space.
He used to tell students, "Before you make a dream come true, you must first have one."
A federally funded college scholarship with Ronald McNair's name grants about $42 million a year to 4,000 low-income and minority students.
And Carl McNair is working on a book to honor his brother. "Slave Ship to Space Ship" is the working title.
"It's a book about hope," he said.
But Carl McNair worries not enough black students are readying themselves to excel in an increasingly competitive world.
This year's state curriculum tests show Georgia's black students are closing the achievement gap with white students in early grades, but the gap remains large in the middle grades and is even growing in some areas.
A Harvard University report found that 47 percent of Georgia's black students and 43 percent of Hispanic students graduate on time, compared with 64 percent of non-Hispanic white students.
Things are worse in DeKalb County at McNair High School, named as a tribute to McNair's late brother. The freshman class of 2001 had 505 students; only 40 percent graduated last spring.
McNair High had an 85 percent failure rate on the algebra test during the state's most recent end-of-course tests. McNair High has a new principal, who could not be reached Friday for comment.
The school traditionally has had low scores. Part of the explanation is 75 percent of its students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches because of low income. Such students typically score lower on tests. But studies show middle-class black students also lag behind middle-class white students.
Carl McNair winced when hearing McNair's scores.
"That's disappointing, really disappointing," he said. "Part of it is a culture thing. It's been 20 years. Only some know Ronald McNair was an astronaut."
Dislike of hard work
McNair recently was visiting a metro Atlanta school where he was told 70 percent of the students come from teenage mothers. "No men to be found," he said.
Ronald McNair saw himself as a role model and planned to be a physics professor after leaving the space program.
"You have to have role models," Carl McNair said. "I talk to kids. They want to play ball or be a rapper. You see the videos and the Bentleys and the great-looking women. They think, 'Six years of school or I can do it next week?' And so it's bling, bling."
"That whole notion of dedicated, hard work," he paused, "People don't want to work hard."
"We came through the era where we were black, and we were proud. We felt an obligation to do our best. We wanted to make our parents and community proud. A lot of our young people have been lured into thinking everything's all right."
Later, McNair started to say something and caught himself. "I don't want to sound like Bill Cosby: 'They're not holding up their end of the bargain,' " referring to a comment the comedian said about low-income, low-achieving black people.
"I think we need to keep reading, that's what it's all about," he said. "My focus is to show young folks, especially African-Americans, there's something out there. They'll ask, 'Why am I taking this math?' We have to show them."
'It's all about exposure'
And that's what puts Carl McNair on airplanes flying from city to city to tell his brother's story.
He is president of the Dr. Ronald E. McNair Foundation Inc., which lobbied the U.S. Department of Education to start the McNair scholarship program. The foundation, which McNair said has had financial "challenges" the past three years, sets up up summer and after-school programs to expose minority and low-income students to technology and to people who have achieved.
"It's all about exposure," said McNair, who also works as a business consultant and lives in a subdivision in southwest Fulton County. "If you don't know what's out there, you can't do it."
McNair said his late brother, as an undergrad at the historically black North Carolina A&T State University, went to Duke University on a summer research project. The program showed him he could fit in a challenging, demanding program. It helped change his life.
McNair is proud of the hundreds of McNair scholars across the nation — they attend about 180 schools. He tries to see as many of them as he can to tell Ronald's inspirational story. A Department of Education study of the program released this year found that "more McNair students enter graduate school than similar students." But those gains narrow after three years in graduate school.
"This suggests that although the McNair program helps participants enroll in graduate school, they may have difficulty staying enrolled once there," the study said, pointing out minority and low-income students often have less financial and social support, making it difficult to weather the difficulties of post-graduate studies.
McNair said the mission to educate — just as the mission to explore space — must continue.
"All you can do is plant the seeds and hope they grow," he said.
