New Hope is a school that has served students age three through sixth grade for the past three decades. Located in a fresh food desert, the students care for land that was donated to the school by Habitat for Humanity. New Hope has cultivated one and a half acres of land for the farm, where students grow fruits and vegetables they make available to the community on Fridays.
When I asked Lionel Cable, New Hope’ s leader, if they lose a lot of produce due to the impulsive need for instant gratification of this generation, he seemed surprised.
In a quietly confident voice, he responded,“ We don’ t have that issue, because the students know that they are growing the food for their community.”
A self-focused desire for instant gratification diminishes when students have the objective of welcoming others into the literal and figurative fruit of their labors.
Former student Joi Johnson said,“ New Hope stuck with me even after a graduated from sixth grade.” Every student who completes sixth grade at New Hope is eligible for a $ 8500 scholarship each year, which allows them to attend an independent school of their choosing. There is also an office of student support to help each student graduate from high school and get to college. New Hope has a 99.9 % high school graduation rate as well as a 99.9 % college placement rate.
Students at New Hope received support for struggling well, and they witnessed the positive impact their efforts had on their community. Both have evidence that kids can be more of who they are meant to be— evidence that can help kids move beyond pessimism and naïve optimism to gritty optimism.
Adults and kids have three options for viewing the world:
Pessimism: No matter what we do, the future is bleak and will remain that way.
Naïve Optimism: Things will get better. We do not know how, but the future will improve.
Gritty Optimism: Grounded in evidence-based reality, we know things can be better even if the future is hard.
While it is tempting to tell kids what we think they want to hear because we’ re worried about shutting them down or popping their selfesteem balloons, that doesn’ t set them up for success.
Kids cannot become anything they want to be. Knowing this is helpful because having an infinite number of choices can be paralyzing. Reality narrows options by closing doors, and that is a blessing.
" Reality narrows options by closing doors, and that is a blessing."
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