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On Prep for Prep and What No One Tells You About Gifted Kid Burnout
Every child is a star who deserves more
I sat waiting inside a fourth-grade classroom on 120th Street and Lenox. The small chair hugged my hip bones but nowhere else. The empty halls of Harlem Success Academy struck a familiar chord. Each grade level had a label like “Ambition” or “Prosperity.” The room names read like a list of U.S. News & World Report Top 100 Universities: Duke, Harvard, Wesleyan. Ivy League rejection letters all used the same four sentences though. I hoped the 9-year-olds in those seats would never have to read bad news from thin envelopes.
A teacher that Eva Moskowitz connected me to would conduct my interview. At 26, I was out of work (again) and hadn’t finished school. My success was long-gone, I thought, and I’d pissed it away. Based on test scores, hopeful immigrant parents, tony schools, stardom aimed at my head. I did my best to sprint away from the unearned promise those sponsors thrust on me. What good was a prep-school dropout? Who could I help if not myself?
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Dropped. When Keshia got on our summer bus to spread the news, we were fifth-grade sullen.
