The Power of Belief! | Charlton Jackson | TEDxChadwick International School

Thank you. Um, yes. So, uh, I'm Charlton Jackson. I'm the middle school principal

Jackson. I'm the middle school principal here at CI. And, um, it is a real honor to be here and to talk about, uh,

beating the odds. Um, so I want to start with uh just there's a there's a sticker on my computer and the sticker says uh I

am my ancestors wildest dreams and just by virtue of me being here today that is beating the odds and and I'll I'll share

with you what I mean by that. Um my

great great great grandparents were slaves in the United States. um if you or anyone had asked them or told them that one day your great great

great-grandson will be here today, you know, in this capacity, it would have blown their mind. Um the same holds true for my grandparents. My grandparents

grew up in the deep south of the United States uh um in Louisiana and um and Mississippi and uh during the Jim Crow laws during the Great Depression, if you

had asked them the same thing, it would have blown their mind. Um but to be honest, I feel like the journey that

brought me here, um and me standing here today, my part of it was only the tip of the iceberg. All I did was cross the

the iceberg. All I did was cross the finish line and I'm, you know, as they say, feel like I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. So, I want to tell you my story. I'm gonna go back a little

bit. I'm not going to go far back as

bit. I'm not going to go far back as great grandparents, but I but I will start with my parents. Um, I want to start with my dad. So, my father was

born in Mississippi. Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the United States. Um he he grew up there until

States. Um he he grew up there until about third grade with uh three siblings and uh and a single mom. My grandmother

uh Grandma Lee. Uh from there they moved north to Chicago. That is a a typical migration for for black community to go from the south to the north. They lived

with relatives uh very very poor. Um and

eventually they went moved out west to Compton, California. Now along the way,

Compton, California. Now along the way, my my father had his share of challenges. The first one began with uh

challenges. The first one began with uh him in the third grade. As I said, Mississippi was a very poor state. Um

and the education system there, at least where he was, uh wasn't strong. He was a little behind in the fundamental skills.

So he moved up to Chicago and had to repeat the third grade. Uh so at that point it it wasn't looking well but um

he he had something very fortunate happen to him. He he had a cousin Leon.

These are the stories that he's told me and I'm going to share with you. He had

a cousin Leon who happened to be who happened to excel in school and uh and my father actually used him as an example. not only as an example but he

example. not only as an example but he also served to support my father in ways uh you know in the school in school and help him a little bit in the beginning

and out of that out of that my father discovered a love of learning. He he

figured out that, you know what, even though we're very poor, even though we don't have a lot, even though we have multiple families living in a two-bedroom home, um he felt like for

him the way to success was through education. Um so he did that. He put his

education. Um so he did that. He put his energies into school. That carried on even when they moved out to Compton, California on to uh into high school.

And then when he graduated from high school, he actually got a good job. He

he got a job working at the post office, a government job. So everyone around him, all of his family was like, "Wow, we're so proud of you. You have a good job now. You don't have to worry

job now. You don't have to worry anymore." Um, but that wasn't what he

anymore." Um, but that wasn't what he had dreamed about his entire life. He he

actually he he was into education. So he

didn't settle for that good job. He he

worked it part-time, but at the same time he wanted to go to college. No one

else in his family had ever gone to college. So, um he worked at the post

college. So, um he worked at the post office part-time and then the other part-time he went to Compton Community College. Um unfortunately, you know, you

College. Um unfortunately, you know, you have to pay tuition. So, he he was using the post office job to do that, but he had to drop out a semester, work

full-time to get the money to pay for the tuition. Um, and at that time there

the tuition. Um, and at that time there was a Vietnam War going on. So, and

there was a draft, but they would only draft individuals who were not enrolled in college, assuming you were of drafting age. Well, the moment he

drafting age. Well, the moment he dropped out to uh to earn money to for the next semester, he got drafted.

But there is a there's a saying that says the harder you work, the luckier you get. And he was actually lucky

you get. And he was actually lucky because of the hard work that he had put in because he, you know, he he applied himself in school, not only in math and science, but in anything they had to

offer. He actually learned to type while

offer. He actually learned to type while he was in high school. So when he did get drafted to the Vietnam War, he did not have to go fight on the front lines.

He was lucky. He was able to get a clerical job behind a desk. So he did that. He served his tour. He um he left

that. He served his tour. He um he left the military after the time he had to serve and then continued on ultimately

finished up at at Cal Poly Pomona, became an electrical engineer and went on to work for Southern California Edison uh as an electrical engineer. Uh

but the luck win went beyond that because there was something called a GI bill. Whereas if you were a veteran, if

bill. Whereas if you were a veteran, if you served in the army, you could through the GI Bill, you can get low interest loans. He was able to buy a

interest loans. He was able to buy a house with with him and my mother. Um

and and and Compton was in a situation where actually there were a lot of houses up for sale, so he was able to buy multiple houses um in Compton where, you know, he kind of used that to to

supplement income.

So that was kind of his story. But the

the main theme of his story was he stuck to his beliefs his beliefs in education.

So now let's move over to my mother. My

mother also grew up in the south or was born in Louisiana. She uh different from my father. Uh her mother and father were

my father. Uh her mother and father were together and she had five siblings and um and when she was six years old they

moved out to Compton, California. And um

the the biggest challenge for her was that her mother, my grandmother Edith, she was only 16 when my mother was born.

My mother was the oldest of those six kids just as my dad was the oldest of those the four kids. Um but being the oldest uh when your mother's 16 years

older meant she had to play a role almost a second motherly role to help you know raise the kids. Um she also felt a certain need to be an example for

her siblings. Um,

her siblings. Um, and similar to my father, somehow she got it in her head that I'm going to do this through education. I'm going to be

a role model for my my siblings. I'm

going to be able to help support the family. I'm going to go to school. So,

family. I'm going to go to school. So,

she similar to my dad uh she went to Compton Community College, then went on to Cal State LA and uh became a social worker. She also was a lifelong learner

worker. She also was a lifelong learner because after that she later went up back to school became a registered nurse went on to became a public health nurse.

So um that was the lessons that she always said is that you can do whatever you want to do. Um and education is the means to do it. So

when you stop and reflect and think about those two stories that kind of leads to my journey through Chadwick um there's something in common. The common

theme is they had a certain belief that they stuck to. And then when my mom after having graduated, she had a friend, a friend named Barbara who had a

child that was my age. Um and and and Barbara told my mother, "There's this great school. There's a school. It's one

great school. There's a school. It's one

of the top schools in Southern California. It's the best school in the

California. It's the best school in the South Bay. I'm going to send my daughter

South Bay. I'm going to send my daughter there." And my mother, not to be

there." And my mother, not to be outdone, says, "Oh, yeah. What's the

name of the school?" Chadwick School.

Oh, okay. Okay, I'm going to send my son there. So, that's where I come into the

there. So, that's where I come into the story. Um, like my mother, like my

story. Um, like my mother, like my father, I was the oldest. Um, I was only the oldest of two. But if you stop and think about the the the situation here,

what what you have is you have uh a black family uh both of which my mother and my father were the first to get college degrees in

their family in a time when no one else was even talking about that. Um

I was the obviously the first child of this couple. So when I entered the scene

this couple. So when I entered the scene at Chadwick in 1975, I was very very very fortunate. Um in 1975,

very fortunate. Um in 1975, only 10 years earlier, blacks weren't even allowed to live in Palace Veries, which is where Chadwick is.

And now here's another interesting fact.

In 1975, there was a class, my kindergarten class of 40 kids. 10 kids

were black. That is that's an incredible number. 25% when you know just 10 years

number. 25% when you know just 10 years earlier there weren't even blacks in the city. Now the unfortunate part though is

city. Now the unfortunate part though is uh 13 years later I graduated from Chadwick and in that class of 64 kids

were black and of the original 10 of us remained um who were wilds me and a a friend of mine Patrick Puroy.

Patrick ends up going on to Princeton to become an attorney and I end up going on to Dartmouth and studying engineering like my father. So that's kind of the

beginnings of of of how Chadwick entered the scene. So

the scene. So So as I said earlier, my my role in this this family journey

of beating the odds was just crossing the finish line. But the common theme is belief. So I want to share with you a

belief. So I want to share with you a few stories about Chadwick that shaped what I actually believe.

The first story the first story happened when I was in second grade at Chadwick school. Um and uh in second grade we had

school. Um and uh in second grade we had this coach, Coach James. Really

charismatic, positive, joyful coach.

Everybody loved him. We all loved him.

And uh we happened to be in PE class that day. And in PE class, we were

that day. And in PE class, we were playing kickball. So, you know, I think,

playing kickball. So, you know, I think, you know, it just may have been a good day that day, but uh you know, he would ask us, "How do you want the ball? Do

you want it fast and on the ground or do you want it slow and bouncy?" I was like, "Slow and bouncy, sir." So, he he pitched me the ball. Boom. Home run. I

was like, "Oh, that that was pretty fun." I was really excited by that.

fun." I was really excited by that.

Second time up, same thing happened.

Home run. By the third time with the third result, Coach James looked at me and said, "I'm gonna call you Big Bopper." All the kids laughed

and it was fun and I kind of enjoyed that name. But I ended up being the Big

that name. But I ended up being the Big Bopper for the rest of that year. By the

time I got into middle school, it had been shortened to Bopper. By the time I went through high school, upper school, it became bop.

But as I talked about the importance of belief, what happened in that story was I actually believed and wanted to be Bob. And Bob represented who I was. Bob

Bob. And Bob represented who I was. Bob

was the athlete. That's that's what I believed I was. I believed that I was the athlete of the class. Um and I believe that and I believe that I had to live up to that. Now the interesting

part about that is uh I also think that many of my classmates thought that it was a natural thing you know that's sometimes that that could be a

stereotype you know um where people see uh uh black students they think oh they're they're good athletes so you know that could be thought they're just born that way what people didn't really

know was because I wanted to be Bob because I believed that I was Bob. I

worked really really hard to be Bob, you know, that that was my thing. After

school, in the summertime, I was always playing football and basketball and kickball was just the start of it. But

but I was and wanted to be that that athlete. It got to the point where even

athlete. It got to the point where even in high school, I would get up at 4 in the morning and uh and and get up to Chadwick by 5:30 so that I can work out

before school. um I needed to I wanted

before school. um I needed to I wanted to be Bob and it was through hard work though. It wasn't just through being

though. It wasn't just through being born that way. So that was the first story.

The second story that shaped who I believed I was and then who I worked I tried to become. Um

this story happened around in early high school in on the basketball team. We had

a coach Tom Meyer. He ran, he had a really strong basketball program. We had

won the state title a couple years. Um,

every year we were winning the prep league. Prep league is a little bit like

league. Prep league is a little bit like our kayak league. It's a league of schools very similar to ourselves, college preparatory schools. Um, but his

philosophy was I he wanted us to play the biggest public schools, the toughest inner city schools. Um, and he felt like if we did that, that would prepare us

for our prep league and and then we'd go on to have success on our level. So, we

were playing one year in the Watts summer games, right? And if you don't know Los Angeles, the way it works is you have like South Central might be here, over here you have Watts, and

right here you have Compton. They're

pretty much close to each other. and and

all of those areas are considered like the inner city, the you know the um the hood, the ghetto so to speak. Um so we were in the Watts summer games and uh

and coach Meyer knew that I lived in Compton. Um and uh we were the way it

Compton. Um and uh we were the way it worked back then is there'd be a van and the coach would drive the van and all the players would be in the back. Um we

didn't have like buses but so we were all together and we were driving from Watts through Compton getting back to the freeway and coach Meyer looked at me and said Bob uh I can drop you off uh at home that way you don't have to go all

the way up the Palace Veries just to come all the way back and um and and for some students that could have been a challenging situation right because remember it goes back to what you

believe for some students that could have been a very challenging situation where all your friends and teammates friends are there you're driving down the street, you see graffiti on the walls, you see unsavory characters

standing on the corner. Um, and as you drive through that neighborhood, um, you're dropping off one of your teammates. Very different from where

teammates. Very different from where Chadwick is. But I didn't see it that

Chadwick is. But I didn't see it that way. I didn't believe that to be, um, a

way. I didn't believe that to be, um, a negative for me. I actually saw it as a badge of honor. Yeah. I I don't know why. It was kind of weird. I saw it as

why. It was kind of weird. I saw it as like when we would go play those big public schools and and um I saw it as hey guys don't worry we can compete with them. I'm like them. I'm one of them but

them. I'm like them. I'm one of them but I'm on your team. That that's that was my weird way of looking at it. So I was like yeah sure coach coach dropped me off. I went along my happy go-lucky way.

off. I went along my happy go-lucky way.

Went into the house and and then they drove off.

So, so for me, BOP started off as the athlete, but then it became a weird sense of pride about being, no, I'm that kid. I'm that tough kid from the hood.

kid. I'm that tough kid from the hood.

The truth is, I was not the tough kid from the hood, as I told you, right? I I

I was a Chadwick kid. My uh my parents, we owned our house. My parents um you know, we rented out other houses. Most

of my friends lived in the houses that we rented out. Um, I had a rule u that my parents had given me that um you got to make sure you got to be in the house by the time the street lights come on.

So I was never out running the streets at night. Um my experience was chat but

at night. Um my experience was chat but but I wanted to be Bob. So I you know I played that role. I was the athlete. I

was the tough kid from the hood. Um but

there was a problem with that.

The problem with that was that's not really valued so much at Chadwick. It's

very similar to to here. You don't

really get a lot of social capital out of being either the best athlete or the tough kid where at Chadwick you get more social capital out of being the smart

kid, the academic kid, the kid who does well in the classroom. So, so for me, there was still something lacking which

leads me to my third and final story.

My third story happened uh at the start of ninth grade. Uh this was in ninth grade science class. We had a new science teacher. Her name was Miss

science teacher. Her name was Miss Weernig.

And Miss Weernig didn't really know me as Bob, right? That reputation, you know, she knew nothing about it.

Everybody was new to her. And to be honest, I wasn't a bad student. I just

didn't really apply myself. Like I got B's and C's, but but for me, like I said, I was trying to be that athlete.

So that was what was important to me up until that first first uh week of ninth grade.

So uh in Miss Weernick's ninth grade science class, uh we had an early test.

It probably wasn't even a unit test.

Probably was more like a diagnostic test. I don't really remember. But uh

test. I don't really remember. But uh

what I do remember is um and maybe it was the moon, the stars, the sun, everything lined up perfectly. I

happened to get the highest grade in the class on that particular test. I can't

even explain why. Um, and as Miss Weernick was passing back the test, she came up to me and handed me my test and said, "Oh, you must be the smart one."

And then kind of everybody looked at me and I looked at them because, you know, everybody pop. He's not that's the

everybody pop. He's not that's the athlete. Um, but

athlete. Um, but I liked how it made me feel, but then it became a little bit scary because then I started to think, uhoh, what's going to happen the next time we

have a test? Is she still going to think I'm the smart one?

So, that day something changed inside of me.

Uh, what changed inside of me was I wanted now not only to be Bob the athlete, but I wanted to be Charlton the

student athlete. So,

student athlete. So, I actually I studied really really hard for my next science test. That that year was the beginning and and every

subsequent science test after that for the rest of that year. Um,

and the funny part about it, I still had to carry that persona as the the tough hood kid, too. So, I really didn't tell my friends that at home I was going home and staying up late and studying and and

uh doing the things that they didn't know me to do. But I will say what ended up happening was, yeah, I continued to get A's in that science class. Pretty

soon, my classmates start to see me as, oh, he's not just Bob the athlete. um he

he he's a student athlete. He he's good at science. That kind of then it start

at science. That kind of then it start to spread into some of the other subjects and um and and who I thought I was changed.

So who I believed I was changed.

And because I believe now that I was that student athlete, I started to work towards it because again there is often

a misconception about students that oh you're smart, gifted, and you're born that way.

But that's not the truth. That is not the truth. Um, so when I think back to

the truth. Um, so when I think back to all of those stories, when I think back to the stories I just told you about me, when I think back to the stories I told you about my father and my mother, um,

in terms of beating the odds, there's certainly a common theme. Yeah. As I

said, and as I think it was Henry Ford who said, whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.

And that's about belief. So when it comes to beating the odds, you have to believe that everything is figure outable. You

can figure out anything as long as you believe in the right approach to it. And

what is the right approach? The right

approach has nothing to do with uh being born smart or being born a gifted athlete. It has everything to do with

athlete. It has everything to do with how you choose to work towards that.

So then now that brings me here today here at CI um reflecting on on

my goals in life, what I contribute to the world and uh and what has led me to believe is

that the way I can impact the world, the way that we here at CI can impact the world is if we can get every student

that comes through these gates to believe because there's power in belief to believe that everything is figure

outable. If you have the growth mindset,

outable. If you have the growth mindset, you don't have to worry about being born smart or being born gifted. That doesn't

matter. What matters is do you have the courage to try your hardest and have setbacks and not succeed the first time and continue to do it again and to

persevere with that. We call that a growth mindset.

If if we can get everyone that comes through these gates to believe that, then we've won and everyone will come to

understand that anyone can beat the odds.

That's my story. Thank you.