Culture and Creed at Urban Prep

From urbanprep.org

Will single-gender schools for boys help us address the horribly low graduation rates for young men of color? (See blog on Vertus Charter School.) I have to admit I’m always a bit uncomfortable with the idea. Then I remember the role some girls schools and all-women colleges have played in helping young women think they could make valuable contributions beyond the confines of the home and forming networks that helped bash down the gates to employment. Perhaps all-male schools are exactly what we need for young men who have to face a constant barrage of shallow, negative images in the media that suggest that their lives will be confined to the street. Perhaps we might even consider all-male alternative schools where the school culture and learning environments could be designed for nurturing boys into men.

I’ve been paying special attention to all-male schools in order to understand what it is about the design, culture or learning environments that make them work for boys and young men. If we can understand that, then maybe we can fully integrate it into any school. Hopefully, initiatives like My Brother’s Keepers will help to identify and advance what needs to be in place for African-American young men to graduate from high school.


Urban Prep Academy in Chicago is one model that seems to be having a lot of success. They are highly effective in helping their graduating seniors get into four-year colleges, but it’s not as clear how effective they are in helping 9th graders make it all the way to 12th grade. According to the NPR story Chicago Students Enroll as Boys, and Graduate as College-Bound Men, Urban Prep uses positive images, role models (40% of staff are black men), an alumni program, a focus on African-American and African studies, and rituals such as the daily recitation of the Urban Prep Creed.

The creed is powerful. Any school that is firmly built on this belief system is going to make a difference for students. It emphasizes efficacy, naming the emotions of uncertainty and fear that can undermine learning, and empowerment to shape the future.

We believe.
We are the young men of Urban Prep.
We are college bound.
We are exceptional – not because we say it, but because we work hard at it.
We will not falter in the face of any obstacle placed before us.
We are dedicated, committed and focused.
We never succumb to mediocrity, uncertainty or fear.
We never fail because we never give up.
We make no excuses.
We choose to live honestly, nonviolently and honorably.
We respect ourselves, and in doing so, respect all people.
We have a future for which we are accountable.
We have a responsibility to our families, community and world.
We are our brothers’ keepers.
We believe in ourselves.
We believe in each other.
We believe in Urban Prep.
We believe.

Revisiting the creed on a daily basis would certainly help both students and teachers to strive for excellence. I’m going to share it with a young man I know who is struggling to figure out what it means to be a man in a culture that thinks his skin color defines him.