It's a thought from a horror film, Kafka all over again: the one unqualified, unmitigated, outstanding success of our urban public schools is to teach our children to remain poor. I'm an optimist. It's not our teachers' fault, not the administrations' nor the good folk who run our cities. Yet it is. All of ours. Children come in with the promise of unlimited possibility yet most drop out or fail out, & of the minority who do graduate - only half or so go on to college (many on the remedial course treadmill at community colleges) and at least half of these drop out or fail out. Oddly enough, apparently half or soi who are accepted to college after high school never even venture there.

And the one consistent marker between escaping poverty or being stuck inside is graduating college.

I know all this can change, can be made to go away. Places like Harlem Children's Zone and WHEDCo, in the Bronx, show the strength of human spirit.

I'm not good in front of a camera, yet, but I'm honest. Please look at this Norman Thomas High School video Nick and I made, of the school William, Carlos, Philippe and Juan attended, where Kindu tried to go but didn't quite get there.

This is the script I was reading - you can tell I was reading, rah?

NORMAN THOMAS HIGH SCHOOL:

You know how precious kids are. You want the best for them. To be safe. To succeed.

You want your children to have the best education they can. Because the biggest separator between poverty and breaking free is a college degree.

This is Norman Thomas High School. New York City. 2257 kids go here. Four of the five bigger boys we raised, who became our sons, were students here.

Half the children who start high school in New York drop out. Half of those who stay fail. That's not good. It's nobody's fault. But it's all of ours.

White people, middle class people--because it's really class and not skin color--mostly send their children to private school.

Schools are in crisis.

This is a high school. But it's a warehouse. Thousands line up each morning, swipe their IDs through turnstiles manned by police matching faces to photos embedded in the cards. Kids put their school bags thru X-ray machines and pass through scanners. Hundreds line up male and female for hand searches, belts and shoes off, pants falling down.

I went through security a bunch of times, helping our five bigger boys navigate the maze and graduate from here.

It wasn't easy.

It's not a good way to start a school day. It's not a good way to encourage education, the wonder for learning - not to mention what happens once they get upstairs.

It is a way to tell children we don't really care much about them. But there are no bad guys. The people dedicating their lives to teaching are good people

Things aren't working out. And it can be different. For everyone.

That's what I've written a book about. What Else But Home: Seven Boys and an American Journey Between the Projects and the Penthouse