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Victor Rios: Help for kids the education system ignores
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Define students by what they contribute, not what they lack -- especially those with difficult upbringings, says educator Victor Rios. Interweaved with his personal tale of perseverance as an inner-city youth, Rios identifies three straightforward strategies to shift attitudes in education and calls for fellow educators to see "at-risk" students as "at-promise" individuals brimming with resilience, character and grit.
Victor Rios - Educator, author
Victor Rios seeks to uncover how to best support the lives of young people who experience poverty, stigma and social exclusion. Full bio
Victor Rios seeks to uncover how to best support the lives of young people who experience poverty, stigma and social exclusion. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
For over a decade,
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I have studied young people
that have been pushed out of school,
that have been pushed out of school,
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so called "dropouts."
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As they end up failed
by the education system,
by the education system,
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they're on the streets
where they're vulnerable to violence,
where they're vulnerable to violence,
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police harassment,
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police brutality
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and incarceration.
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I follow these young people
for years at a time,
for years at a time,
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across institutional settings,
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to try to understand what some of us call
the "school-to-prison pipeline."
the "school-to-prison pipeline."
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When you look at a picture like this,
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of young people who are in my study ...
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you might see trouble.
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I mean one of the boys
has a bottle of liquor in his hand,
has a bottle of liquor in his hand,
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he's 14 years old
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and it's a school day.
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Other people, when they see this picture,
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might see gangs,
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thugs, delinquents --
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criminals.
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But I see it different.
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I see these young people
through a perspective
through a perspective
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that looks at the assets
that they bring to the education system.
that they bring to the education system.
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So will you join me in changing
the way we label young people
the way we label young people
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from "at-risk" to "at-promise?"
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(Applause)
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How do I know that these young people
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have the potential
and the promise to change?
and the promise to change?
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I know this because I am one of them.
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You see, I grew up
in dire poverty in the inner city,
in dire poverty in the inner city,
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without a father --
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he abandoned me before I was even born.
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We were on welfare,
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sometimes homeless,
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many times hungry.
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By the time I was 15 years old,
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I had been incarcerated in juvy
three times for three felonies.
three times for three felonies.
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My best friend had already been killed.
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And soon after,
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while I'm standing next to my uncle,
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he gets shot.
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And as I'm waiting
for the ambulance to arrive
for the ambulance to arrive
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for over an hour ...
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he bleeds to death on the street.
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I had lost faith and hope in the world,
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and I had given up on the system
because the system had failed me.
because the system had failed me.
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I had nothing to offer
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and no one had anything to offer me.
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I was fatalistic.
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I didn't even think
I could make it to my 18th birthday.
I could make it to my 18th birthday.
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The reason I'm here today
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is because a teacher
that cared reached out
that cared reached out
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and managed to tap into my soul.
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This teacher,
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Ms. Russ ...
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she was the kind of teacher
that was always in your business.
that was always in your business.
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(Laughter)
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She was the kind of teacher that was like,
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"Victor, I'm here for you
whenever you're ready."
whenever you're ready."
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(Laughter)
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I wasn't ready.
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But she understood one basic principle
about young people like me.
about young people like me.
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We're like oysters.
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We're only going to open up
when we're ready,
when we're ready,
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and if you're not there when we're ready,
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we're going to clam back up.
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Ms. Russ was there for me.
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She was culturally relevant,
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she respected my community,
my people, my family.
my people, my family.
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I told her a story about my Uncle Ruben.
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He would take me to work with him
because I was broke,
because I was broke,
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and he knew I needed some money.
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He collected glass bottles for a living.
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Four in the morning on a school day,
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we'd throw the glass bottles
in the back of his van,
in the back of his van,
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and the bottles would break.
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And my hands and arms would start to bleed
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and my tennis shoes and pants
would get all bloody.
would get all bloody.
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And I was terrified and in pain,
and I would stop working.
and I would stop working.
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And my uncle, he would look me in the eyes
and he would say to me,
and he would say to me,
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"Mijo,
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estamos buscando vida."
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"We're searching for a better life,
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we're trying to make
something out of nothing."
something out of nothing."
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Ms. Russ listened to my story,
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welcomed it into the classroom and said,
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"Victor, this is your power.
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This is your potential.
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Your family, your culture, your community
have taught you a hard-work ethic
have taught you a hard-work ethic
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and you will use it to empower
yourself in the academic world
yourself in the academic world
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so you can come back
and empower your community."
and empower your community."
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With Ms. Russ's help,
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I ended up returning to school.
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I even finished my credits on time
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and graduated with my class.
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(Applause)
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But Ms. Russ said to me
right before graduation,
right before graduation,
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"Victor, I'm so proud of you.
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I knew you could do it.
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Now it's time to go to college."
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(Laughter)
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College, me?
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Man, what is this teacher smoking
thinking I'm going to college?
thinking I'm going to college?
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I applied with the mentors
and support she provided,
and support she provided,
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got a letter of acceptance,
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and one of the paragraphs read,
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"You've been admitted
under probationary status."
under probationary status."
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I said, "Probation?
I'm already on probation,
I'm already on probation,
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that don't matter?"
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(Laughter)
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It was academic probation,
not criminal probation.
not criminal probation.
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But what do teachers like Ms. Russ
do to succeed with young people
do to succeed with young people
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like the ones I study?
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I propose three strategies.
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The first:
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let's get rid of our
deficit perspective in education.
deficit perspective in education.
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"These people
come from a culture of violence,
come from a culture of violence,
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a culture of poverty.
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These people are at-risk;
these people are truant.
these people are truant.
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These people are empty containers
for us to fill with knowledge.
for us to fill with knowledge.
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They have the problems,
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we have the solutions."
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Number two.
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Let's value the stories that young people
bring to the schoolhouse.
bring to the schoolhouse.
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Their stories of overcoming
insurmountable odds are so powerful.
insurmountable odds are so powerful.
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And I know you know some of these stories.
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These very same stories and experiences
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already have grit, character
and resilience in them.
and resilience in them.
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So let's help young people
refine those stories.
refine those stories.
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Let's help them be proud of who they are,
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because our education system
welcomes their families, their cultures,
welcomes their families, their cultures,
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their communities
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and the skill set
they've learned to survive.
they've learned to survive.
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And of course the third strategy
being the most important:
being the most important:
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resources.
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We have to provide
adequate resources to young people.
adequate resources to young people.
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Grit alone isn't going to cut it.
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You can sit there
and tell me all you want,
and tell me all you want,
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"Hey man, pick yourself up
by the bootstraps."
by the bootstraps."
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But if I was born
without any straps on my boots --
without any straps on my boots --
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(Laughter)
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How am I supposed to pick myself up?
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(Applause)
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Job training,
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mentoring,
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counseling ...
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Teaching young people
to learn from their mistakes
to learn from their mistakes
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instead of criminalizing them,
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and dragging them out
of their classrooms like animals.
of their classrooms like animals.
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How about this?
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I propose that we implement restorative
justice in every high school in America.
justice in every high school in America.
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(Applause)
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So we went out to test these ideas
in the community of Watts in LA
in the community of Watts in LA
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with 40 young people
that had been pushed out of school.
that had been pushed out of school.
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William was one of them.
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William was the kind of kid
that had been given every label.
that had been given every label.
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He had dropped out, he was a gang member,
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a criminal.
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And when we met him he was very resistant.
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But I remember what Ms. Russ used to say.
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"Hey, I'm here for you
whenever you're ready."
whenever you're ready."
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(Laughter)
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So over time --
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over time he began to open up.
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And I remember the day
that he made the switch.
that he made the switch.
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We were in a large group
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and a young lady in our program was crying
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because she told us her powerful story
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of her dad being killed
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and then his body being shown
in the newspaper the next day.
in the newspaper the next day.
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And as she's crying,
I don't know what to do,
I don't know what to do,
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so I give her her space,
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and William had enough.
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He slammed his hands
on the desk and he said,
on the desk and he said,
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"Hey, everybody! Group hug! Group hug!"
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(Applause)
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This young lady's tears and pain
turned into joy and laughter
turned into joy and laughter
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knowing that her community had her back,
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and William had now learned
that he did have a purpose in life:
that he did have a purpose in life:
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to help to heal the souls
of people in his own community.
of people in his own community.
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He told us his story.
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We refined his story
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to go from being the story of a victim
to being the story of a survivor
to being the story of a survivor
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that has overcome adversity.
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We placed high value on it.
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William went on to finish high school,
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get his security guard certificate
to become a security guard,
to become a security guard,
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and is now working
at a local school district.
at a local school district.
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(Applause)
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Ms. Russ's mantra --
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her mantra was always,
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"when you teach to the heart,
the mind will follow."
the mind will follow."
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The great writer Khalil Gibran says,
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"Out of suffering
have emerged the greatest souls.
have emerged the greatest souls.
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The massive characters
are seared with scars."
are seared with scars."
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I believe that in this education
revolution that we're talking about
revolution that we're talking about
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we need to invite the souls
of the young people that we work with,
of the young people that we work with,
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and once they're able to refine --
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identify their grit,
resilience and character
resilience and character
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that they've already developed --
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their academic performance will improve.
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Let's believe in young people.
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Let's provide them
the right kinds of resources.
the right kinds of resources.
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I'll tell you what my teacher did for me.
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She believed in me so much
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that she tricked me
into believing in myself.
into believing in myself.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Victor Rios - Educator, authorVictor Rios seeks to uncover how to best support the lives of young people who experience poverty, stigma and social exclusion.
Why you should listen
Based on over a decade of research, Dr. Victor Rios created Project GRIT (Generating Resilience to Inspire Transformation) a human development program that works with educators to refine leadership, civic engagement and personal and academic empowerment in young people placed at-risk.
Rios is a professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his Ph.D. in comparative ethnic studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005. His book Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys discusses the many ways in which young urban males of color encounter the youth control complex: a ubiquitous system of punitive social control embedded in what has come to be known as the school-to-prison pipeline.
Victor Rios | Speaker | TED.com