The Class of 1958

Julius R. Brown (center) high school graduation (pictured left) and Julius R. Brown, with "Big Mama", my grandmother and his mother Classie Brown.

I am a high school media specialist. I work with all of the students in the school that come to the library to do their work, or those who just come to have a place to hang out. I collaborate with teachers and present lessons to students and provide assistance when needed. I also work with administrators and other staff to make sure the operations of the library and school function properly. The one thing I do not do, which is a stereotype of my profession, is sit around and read books all day. Yes, I do read books, but on my own time, not at work, I am too busy to do so.

A graduation requirement for our students is the competition of a number of community service hours. One way that students can do this is become a student assistant. We call them squires because our mascot is a knight. Many times students at our school wait until their senior year to start or finish their student service hours. I think many students think that high school will last forever, and then discover, they are a junior or senior and their time is running out and they have to start planning for their future. I wish I could say that all of our students make it to this point, or that they have loving parents that help them through this transition, but far to often this is not the case.

This semester (spring) I have five student assistants assigned to me. All of them are seniors. Out of that five; only two that I know of has a clear plan for their futures. Susan and Marcus are those students. Marcus is going into the military and will get his college education as he serves our country. Suan has worked very hard over the last few months to fill out paper work, write essays, and meet deadlines. Susan will be the first person in her family to go to college. Her family does not have the experience to help her make the decisions that she needs to make that will be best for her future. Susan has depended heavily on the school staff to assist her through this process, and she is willing to listen and follow instructions and good advice. She also has a good friend, who is also a senior, who supports her efforts even though he is convinced he is not college material.

I have advised Susan to visit at least one of the colleges she has applied to during an open house they are having later this month. I hope she will attend, and I realize that if she goes, I may have to attend with her. College is something that Susan wants, but is very fearful of as well. She’s not sure if she is making the right decisions for her future, and that is very understandable.

Several years ago, my father, Julius Brown faced the very same situation as Susan. He wanted to go to college, but had no idea how to make it happen. It was 1958, he had graduated from Pursing High School in Detroit, Michigan, and unlike Susan, he did not receive the support from school staff to help him meet his goal of becoming a college student. No one in my father’s family had gone to college, so like Susan, dad was very unsure about his future, but he knew one thing, he knew he wanted to go to college and he knew that it took money and money was one thing he did not have.

I did not know it, but there was a recession in 1958. Dad graduated from high school and could not find a job, his older brother Mac was in real estate and could not sell a house, his mother was laid off from the car factory and working as a maid in homes and hotels just to pay the bills. When my father told me this I was totally shocked. I never knew my father faced such an uncertain future. To me he has always been strong and loving, I cannot imagine him as a teenager with an uncertain future.

My grandmother never attended college, but she wanted the very best for her son, but did not have the means to help him make the decisions he needed to make, or provide him with the funds he needed to go, but she did not feel defeated, or discouraged. She stepped out on faith. She wrote a letter (there were no cell phones in 1958) to her oldest son Sam who was in the Army and told him about what my dad wanted to do. My Uncle Sam sent my father $100.00 and that is how my father started his college career.

I asked one of my other student assistants where she was going to college and she just looked at me blankly and replied that college took too long. I spoke to her at length about how important it is to invest in her own future. My father started college in 1958 and did not finish until 1973, but when he finished he had his PhD from the University of Michigan. It was worth all the time, money and effort. He has been able to provide for his family, and has helped thousands of people from all walks of life to attend and graduate from collage. He spent his career as a higher education administrator and president.

Susan is entering an essay contest about setting goals for the future (I encouraged her to do so). A requirement of the contest is that the applicant has to be between the ages of 13-18 and has to interview a person over 50 years old on setting goals. Susan's grandparents are not easily accessible to her, so she is interviewing my dad. They have not met, but through the use of technology they have. Susan made a video type and hard copy of her interview questions, and I video typed dad’s answers.

When I think of Susan and my father, I think of King David in the Bible. King David did not start out as a king, but a simple shepherd boy. David’s own family did not believe in him, but he killed a giant and went on to be the king of his people. I wish I could say that King David’s reign went smoothly, but it did not, and partly because of the bad decisions he made. The one thing I can say about David, he knew who God was, and when he messed up big time, he faced it and asked God to forgive him, which God did, but David and those around him, still had to deal with the consequences (good or bad) of his decisions.

To learn more about King David you can read his story in I and II Samuel and I and II Kings. The future is not a mystery to God, he knows what the future holds and he knows you. If you need to make decisions about your future talk to God about it in your prayer time. Then listen to what he says to you. He knows what is best for you and he wants what is best for you. With God you cannot go wrong. This does not mean you will not face difficulty, it means that God will be with you through your difficulty, and it will make you stronger.