Just one mom 1

Can just one person change the world? Yes, history shows that an extraordinary person can. But how about one poor, single, black mom with a third-grade education, living in Detroit about 60 years ago?

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This mom supported her family by cleaning houses and was, by today's standard, "powerless." But she had power in her own home. Noticing that her rich clients tended to do a lot of reading, she turned off the tv for her boys and created a new reading habit for them.

One of them says he actually started to enjoy those books, then the new habit changed his life. High school teachers spent more time disciplining than teaching, so he created his own learning opportunity:

"I would go back after school, talk to my teachers, and say, “What were you planning on teaching?” They would always look forward to seeing me and knowing that they could share their lesson plan with somebody. I got a lot of extra tutoring. So, even though I was in an inner-city high school that wasn’t known for academics, I was able to get the kind of preparation that allowed me to get through Yale University."

from Bill Dembski's Substack

(cont'd tomorrow)