My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family, by Condi Rice: on Education

Condoleezza Rice: Grandfather funded Rice Schools from rich white community

The Rice schools were even more successful than the churches. My grandfather believed that his schools could better educate black children than the miserable public schools of the day, and he sought funds from any source he could, whether it meant a few cents from parents in the community or $50 from rich white people across town. Granddaddy Rice once told Daddy that "white guilt" was his best ally in funding his schools. But when a white church collected a bunch of old textbooks and "donated" them to my grandfather's school, he politely declined. It was important, he explained, that his kids have the most up-to-date reading materials, just like the white students.

Granddaddy's educational evangelism compelled him to go door-to-door in the poor neighborhoods around him and impress upon the parents the importance of sending their kids to college.

Condoleezza Rice: Ad hoc participant in homeschooling in 1960s

My parents were determined to see that I did not miss an entire year of school. The Board of Education would not budge, so they came up with another idea. Perhaps I could test into 2nd grade the following year. Having received permission for this unusual maneuver, they set about making certain that I would pass the test.

My mother decided to take a year's leave from teaching to coach me in preparation for the exam. Years later when the homeschooling movement became more visible, I belatedly realized that I had been a part of it, if only in an ad hoc way. I was very proud when I passed the test, scoring at a 3rd-grade level in arithmetic and at a 5th-grade level in reading.

Condoleezza Rice: Suspicious of the predictive power of standardized tests

Condoleezza Rice: Center for a New Generation: reduce poverty in E. Palo Alto

I was stunned, and realized that I knew very little of the poverty and lack of opportunity just a few blocks from my house. "Stanford has been running its own programs and its own agenda in East Palo Alto. It's about time that someone ask the people there what they need."

We launched the Center for a New Generation (CNG). We had no idea how hard it would be. Stanford had a well-deserved reputation for giving the help they decided the community needed without asking the community what it wanted.

But by 1992 we were able to launch the program for children in grades 5 to 8. Each summer 250 kids were exposed to hands-on math and science instruction, language arts, instrumental music, dance, and art. The curriculum was repeated as an after-school program for 150 kids.