I’m Not That Guy Anymore
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I hated school—until I got slapped with a 15-year prison sentence
and discovered calculus, Mandarin and the college degree I never knew I wanted.
Reason To Be
Cheerful: 9.26 2019 by Alexander Hall
Most
people agree that we need education. Public education in particular is thought
to be the “great equalizer” in free societies, ensuring an equal chance of
success to everyone. In a democracy, what could be more important? But there’s
something that most people leave out: not all education is created equal. Real
education is not just about school or a core curriculum. It doesn’t just teach
you what to think, but how to think—and how to keep thinking for the rest of
your life.
I
understand the difference between the effective and the ineffective kinds of
education more intimately than many.
I
understand because I received both types—a public school education that was
uninspiring and a college education that changed my life. I went from hating
school as an adolescent to loving it as an adult. And my path from public
education to private college tells the story of the power that education, done
right, can have—even in the darkest of places. Because here’s the twist: when I
finally did encounter this real education, I was five years into a 15-year
sentence in state prison.
Working
a few dead end jobs and hanging out partying ate up about three years after
that. Being liked, fun and a little crazy gave me a reputation I didn’t mind
having. I was 21 and didn’t worry much about the future. But that ended in 2005
after a bad party, a bad fight, a gun and a train of terrible decisions that I
can never take back.
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Things
I wish my old self had known
My
life and the lives of many other people changed dramatically amid this tragedy.
But this is also where my relationship with education changed. The moment I
realized I was going to prison, I suddenly wanted to go back to college. It
felt like I had let so many people down, my family in particular, that I needed
some form of redemption. School seemed like the answer. I wanted to show my
family—perhaps also myself— that I still had value. It took me five years to
get there, but at age 26 I finally had a chance to apply to Bard College’s Prison Initiative (BPI) at
Eastern Correctional Facility. The application process was competitive, scary
and uncertain. After weeks of waiting, I was ecstatic when I received an
acceptance letter. READ MORE >>
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