December 20, 2017 –

I am staying in a modest hotel in Conway South Carolina. Not many people are staying here today. This morning, I went to the dining area for the complimentary breakfast. Exclusive of me and my wife, no one was in the area. Two young African-American boys walked in, and it seemed they didn’t quite know what to do. I said hello, and showed them how to help themselves to breakfast. My wife and I had just sat down to eat, and the two boys, brothers, prepared their plates and walked to our table, and asked if they could sit with us. I was pleasantly surprised and said yes, we would love for them to join us.

I started a conversation, asked them about school. I learned they were in the 5th and 6th grade. The 5th grader’s favorite subject was literature, and he wanted to be a football player. The 6th grader, the spokesman, was the one that asked to sit with us.  His favorite subject was math, and his dream was to become a middle-school math teacher. It is only December, and he is very much looking forward to the 7th grade and more math. He seemed very passionate about this matter. For a 6th grader, he appeared to have ‘the right stuff.’

I sensed from our conversation that their life situation could be improved a bit. They were staying with their grandmother in the hotel while she visited from upstate. Later in the day, they would return to their home, locally, probably in the same area where Big Jo lived. It was a remarkable conversation, full of promise and hope. I could see a twinkle in his eye, the kind of person that could be a great teacher, and role model. If every town in America could raise and nurture someone like that, just one a year to be a math teacher, the whole country would be supplied in perpetuity.

Last spring, in a single school in Atlanta, I met and talked to over hundreds of students, 5th and 6th grade, mostly minority. At least a couple of hundred of them loved math and science, especially math. I never got around to asking if any were interested in teaching, but I’m sure some would consider the possibility.

I have traveled around the country, and I am astonished at the number of students I meet, male and female, all backgrounds, that have expressed an interest in, and are in some cases pursuing a career in STEM teaching.

Human capital, these figures are hiding in plain sight.