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Excellence Has No Color: Why Education Remains Our Path Forward

• Savannah Grove Baptist Church

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Transforming education through excellence, discipline, and high expectations isn't just a lofty ideal—it's achievable reality, as demonstrated by Dr Brooks  remarkable 31-year journey as principal of Wilson High School. This powerful testimony reveals how a predominantly African-American school overcame negative perceptions to become recognized for academic excellence, athletic achievement, and community service.

At just 28 years old, this dedicated educator took the helm of his alma mater with a clear mission: prove that excellence could thrive in any environment. Through strategic initiatives like restructuring schedules to combat tardiness, establishing the "Beatitudes" (be present, be on time, behave, be positive), and creating strong parent-teacher-student partnerships, Wilson High School underwent a profound transformation. The school secured significant recognition, including features in Red Book Magazine and a $500,000 grant from GE.

Perhaps most compelling is Dr. Brooks  challenge to harmful narratives that equate academic achievement with "acting white." Excellence knows no color—making A's, speaking proper English, and striving for your best are universal standards worth pursuing. Parents are called to establish high expectations at home, get involved at school, and teach responsibility from an early age. Students are urged to value their education, respect themselves, know their history, and recognize that today's opportunities came at great cost to previous generations who "did more with less." Whether you're an educator, parent, student, or community member, this passionate call to educational excellence offers wisdom that transcends time and circumstance. How will you contribute to creating a culture of excellence in your school, home, and community?

Speaker 1:

Good afternoon. For those of you who don't know me, I am the brother of Mrs Virginia Robinson, musician, longtime member here at Savannah Grove Baptist Church, where our family worship for several years. First of all, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Canty, pastor of Spadding Grove Baptist Church, for this opportunity to share my educational experience with you and also to hopefully motivate our young people and our families about the importance of education and the importance of always valuing, wanting to be better, and for us as a people, education is a key. I began my educational career in Florence School, district 1, attending Holmes Elementary School, wilson Junior High School and Wilson Senior High School, graduating in 1964, moving from there to South Carolina State College and now a university from 1964 to 1968, where I received a bachelor's degree in education math education and from there I received a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. I had plans to make the Army a career, but my wife, ms Barbara Brooks, did not care for the military. So, having the last word in my house, I said yes, ma'am, and I got out. I came to Florence School, district One and earned a mathematics position at Moore Junior High School at that time and taught math for one year, and in that first year the superintendent, mr Henry Sneed, asked if I would be interested in becoming an assistant principal at West Florence High School that was founded in 1970. So I said yes, and so, beginning in 1971 to 1974, I was assistant principal at West Lawrence High School. Then, in August of 1974, I got the opportunity, under Superintendent Dr Bruce Crowley, to become principal of Wilson High School. I asked 30 people whether or not I should take the job. One of them included Pastor Canty, and out of 30 people, 28 said yes, two said no. The only two that said no were the principal and guidance counselor at West Florence High School, and they said that not to be negative, but because they did not want me to leave. So from August of 1974 to June 30th of 2005, I was principal at Wilson High School for 31 years.

Speaker 1:

I went to Wilson High School because, as a graduate of Wilson, I got tired of hearing people speak negatively about a school that happened to be predominantly African-American in terms of student population, and so I took on the challenge to make sure that excellence existed in a predominantly African American environment as well as any other environment, and so we moved from having a negative perception of Wilson to it becoming a school that received recognition for excellence, not only in academics but in terms of music, in terms of athletics and in terms of service. Several of the teachers that were at Wilson when I was a student there, along with my classmates, were there in August of 1974, and all of them were supportive of my efforts, and at that time and when I became principal, I was, if not the youngest, perhaps one of the youngest principals of a high school in South Carolina at the age of 28. I never regretted going to Wilson and doing the things that I saw needed to be done, and the accomplishments that were made was because of the team of teachers, administrators, support staff in terms of custodial staff, cafeteria staff in terms of guidance counselors, media specialists and, more importantly, students. Students that didn't necessarily look at me as being a good thing in the beginning, but as long as I stayed there, my team and I made them believers.

Speaker 1:

And, of course, no school is going to be successful without positive parental involvement, successful without positive parental involvement, and we had a strong parent-teacher-student association that helped us accomplish our goals, one of the things that we wanted to accomplish at Wilson and at any school I would encourage that is to establish discipline. You're not going to accomplish anything in life unless you have self-discipline, and one of the things that we had to do was to change the culture where we had students as many as 200 students coming to school late every morning signing in. We had a seven-period day at the time, and I approached the superintendent and asked if I could change the schedule where we'd have first period first and then homeroom, because when I went there, homeroom was first and of course that was an administrative establishment to get the roll call, make announcements and call attention to other administrative materials. But having changed the schedule to where first period refers, we moved from having over 200 students signing in to five, and so that was one of the things that we needed to impress upon our students is that we need to get down to business. The other thing we need to be concerned about is the fact that you are as smart as you want to be and that in your classes you're expected to do your very, very best. And so we established that, and in 1978 there was a move to build a new Wilson High School and to change the name. That was defeated and then in 1980, the referendum was reintroduced, but this time with the school being maintaining the name Wilson High School and being relocated at 1411 Old Marion Highway, which is the present site for Wilson and where its current principal, dr Eric Robinson, is the chief administrator.

Speaker 1:

Well, there, beginning in 1982 to 2005, we were able to maintain one of the most attractive schools in the state and on August 15th of 1982, wilson High School was dedicated and we had three speakers in the gymnasium at 3 o'clock that afternoon. The first speaker was the editor at that time of the Florence Morning News, mr James Rogers. The second speaker was Dr Haywood, who was a veteran and a pastor in the Methodist Church, the brother of Dr Joe Haywood. He was a graduate of Wilson, and then yours truly was the last speaker to speak. We had refreshments and we had a tour of the school and at that time, in the commons area, I heard one of the attendees say this is an attractive school, but we'll see how long it has maintained its beauty.

Speaker 1:

I took that personally and professionally as a challenge, and our students helped to show that it maintained that attractiveness even as it exists today. More importantly, we wanted to establish expectations, high expectations of students, and our words were knowledge and still are knowledge, skills and character. And we as a team established the Beatitudes Be present, be on time, behave and be positive. We had an adoption business that that time was People's Natural Gas that helped us to honor students during each quarter in three areas academics, attendance and discipline, self-discipline and we awarded students badges that they wore, and we also had badges for parents VIP that established the words very important parent. So, with the support that we had from the community and from the faculty student body support staff, well, we gained recognition in Red Book Magazine. We gained recognition for obtaining a grant from GE and several members of employed at GE are members of Savannah Grove Baptist Church today and we had a $500,000 grant over five years and we were able to do a lot of things that helped enhance academics and excellence.

Speaker 1:

The concern that I had then and the concern that I have today for education is the fact that we have to have students who have an attitude of wanting to excel. You can be the best that you can be, but you have a want to learn. You have to come to school with an attitude that you are going to, first of all, an attitude that you are going to first of all behave, that you are going to listen to your teachers, that you know how to follow instructions and that you will do everything you can to enhance your school. One of the things that you don't want to do is to make people think that, because it's a predominantly African-American environment, that there are no standards for excellence. Nothing could be further from the truth. But you as students and you as parents must have the commitment to be involved in your school, regardless of what level it is elementary school, middle school, high school.

Speaker 1:

The foundation for being excellent begins really at home. The standards for excellence begin with having high expectations from parents at home. Having responsibilities to make up your bed, wash dishes, do yard work, sweep the floor All of that is not beneath any responsibility. Child learning, the responsibility to have a responsibility to work, and that begins at home. That moves to elementary school, the foundation for reading, and there you need to learn to do cursive writing. You need to learn how to read and also learn how to know how to follow instructions, because the foundation for your success in middle school and high school is based upon your success in elementary school. Moving forward to middle school, six, seven and eight all grades are important, but you need to understand you need to do your best in all of your classes.

Speaker 1:

Now that might not mean getting an A, but you strive to make an A and if you fall short then you make a B and in some cases you may not have the skills as you would like to have and you'll have a C or a D. Under no circumstances should you receive a failing grade, but under no circumstances should you not apply your best. Then the no circumstances are you to misunderstand the fact that we will not get excellent leaders who happen to look like you and me and achieve an accomplishment like President Barack Obama, unless you have the skills and apply yourself, like Mrs Michelle Obama, and not only that, right here in Savannah Grove Baptist Church, right here in Florence, south Carolina. Excellence is always a desire or a manner, an accomplishment that you want to achieve at all times. Now we need to understand that, just because we have a majority African-American population in our school population, in our school, those of you who have the skills for being smart, don't negate your smartness to try to fit in with those students who don't want to apply themselves. You help them see that they need to strive for excellence as well as you, that making an A speaking correct English is not being white, that's being excellent, and you do not have to apologize for that under any circumstances. Parents, you need to make sure that you are setting the standards in the home, the expectations in the home, in terms of language, in terms of dress, in terms of responsibility. All of that complements having a good education, and so we're at a point today where our education is being challenged, where our history is being challenged.

Speaker 1:

You need to read and understand who Dr Carter G Woodson is. You need to read and understand who Dr Carter G Woodson is. You need to read and understand who Hank Aaron is. You need to read and understand who our artists are. You need to know who Dr WEB Du Bois is. You need to know who are not standing actresses, actors who are getting positive roles, and so that you can have caused positive role models, not only in TV, but desire to have positive role models in our community, your pastor, your members in your community that live on the same road that you live on. They may not be famous, but they may be who you need to emulate in terms of honesty, respect, having a good job and working intensely on being excellent in your profession.

Speaker 1:

Reverend Dr Martin Luther King challenged us. We need to sweep streets. Sweep streets like Michelangelo painted paintings. We need to understand you don't have to apologize for being excellent and those of us who are not doing our best. We need to have a change in attitude and do our best right now. Where are we going to get our doctors? Where are we going to get our pediatricians? Where are we going to get our attorneys? Where are we going to get our responsible government officials If we don't have people who look like us, who have the qualifications for the position? And we don't need to be jealous or envious of anybody. We can become the best that we can be, and that is all that is required of us that we be the best. That's what excellence is doing one's best and so I want us to understand that education is what helped us get where we are today, and it is no less important today than it was when our parents, our grandparents and our ancestors did less. They did more with less, and we don't need to do less with more.

Speaker 1:

The opportunity for us to do is here for the taking, and I challenge all of us that, right now, parents get into the schools. Find out what your children are doing. Find out how they're doing in their classes. Find out how they're doing in their homework. Make sure that they do their homework. Homework is schoolwork to go. That's fast food education. So it's just as important and that's how you get to do well on your exams and your tests because you practice, and when you practice, you find out what mistakes you make before you get to the test. So, parents, your role is just as important as anybody else's.

Speaker 1:

Go out to the school and become knowledgeable of your teachers, no matter who they are. Let them know that you care about your child, you care about what they're doing, and if they are not behaving, then there's a need for you them to know that you have standards of behavior at home. And if they are misbehaving at school, then they need to let you know. Support your custodians, your cafeteria workers. Those jobs are very, very important. There's just as much dignity in sweeping the floor as there is standing in front of a classroom teaching. Teaching is a very, very noble and honorable position and I want you to understand that. It is time out for playing and misbehaving. It's time out for going to school and doing everything but behaving, learning and creating an atmosphere.

Speaker 1:

I know a lot of you like sports, but we need to understand that we need to also be working on a vocabulary. We need to know how to speak. We need to know how to write. We need to know how to do cursive writing. We need to know how to spell. We need to know that when you go to apply for a job, that what is going to get you your job is the qualifications for your job.

Speaker 1:

And, listen, dress appropriately. Stop hanging your pants around your rah-rah bummery. That ain't nothing but nastiness, and that is not. That has nothing to do about being black and young ladies. Respect yourself. You don't need to be worrying about trying to impress no fellow. You carry yourself like a lady. They'll find you. You don't need to find them. And so please, in my closing, I want you to understand that you need to know what time it is. There's no time for playing now. You need to take advantage of every opportunity to go to school, because we didn't always have that opportunity. We didn't always have the opportunity to ride a bus. We didn't always have the opportunity to drive a bus. We didn't always have the opportunity to drive a car or ride in a car. Some of us, we had an only car in our community was a Chevrolet Chev. Your left foot, and later right, that's what we did, and so today do your best, and I wish you the best. Thank you and have a great school year.