Ron Clark Featured in Atlanta Peach Magazine
Ron Clark never meant to be a teacher. Adventurer was more like it. Growing up in a small town in North Carolina, he was just an average student. After graduating from East Carolina University, he only wanted to see the world, so he saved money for plane fare and moved to London. The only job he could find there was as a singing and dancing waiter in a Texas-themed restaurant. After six months he left England and backpacked around Europe, ending up in Romania. While living with gypsies in Transylvania, he became extremely ill after indulging in a meal that featured rats. It seemed his life of adventure would be cut short when his parents demanded he return home. There, Clark’s mother mentioned that a local teacher had passed away and suggested that he finish out the school year for her. Clark had no desire to teach but figured he would go down to the school and meet with the faculty. The next day he took on her fifth-grade class. “It was like magic,” he says now. “I fell in love with teaching.” The students were demanding, and many had behavioral problems and learning disabilities, but Clark was determined to make a difference in their lives. And he did. An accidental small-town teacher with big dreams, Ron Clark has become a global force in education. He was invited to the White House on three separate occasions to be honored by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton and was named Disney’s American Teacher of the Year in 2000. Since winning that award, he has appeared on NBC’s Today, The Oprah Winfrey Show and countless other programs. The television movie The Ron Clark Story, about his experience in Harlem, came out last year, with Matthew Perry in the title role. The film has been nominated for three Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Made for TV Movie and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. He has traveled to classrooms and schools all over the world spreading his approach, which he calls The Essential 55, and he is at the helm of an ambitious new school opening this fall in Atlanta called the Ron Clark Academy. The Essential 55 is also the title of one of two best-selling books Clark has penned, in which he crystallizes his education philosophy. It includes points that might seem obvious: For example, children should address adults as “sir” or “ma’am,” make eye contact, respect each other, always say thank-you, not save seats in the lunch room, learn from their mistakes and move on. Clark found that this etiquette was not necessarily followed in the classroom—either by students or teachers. After five years in that first teaching post, Clark sought out another challenge. His next stop was Harlem. Aware New York City was desperate for good teachers, he picked up and moved there in spite of the fact that he did not know anyone in the area. He took over a low-performing class at a Harlem elementary school and then astonished the faculty and city by raising their scores higher than those of even the school’s gifted class—in just one year. During his first two years in Harlem, Clark helped students increase their scores enough that many went on to the city’s most prestigious magnet middle schools.
But Clark still has not finished changing the world. He has opened a new chapter in the form of a from-scratch new school. On a sunny day this past May, Clark debuted his new venture to 150 political, educational and business leaders from 33 countries. The Ron Clark Academy was the highlight of the first Americas Competitiveness Forum, which focused on innovation, education and growth in the Western Hemisphere and was hosted in Atlanta by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez. The Academy has attracted so much attention that 3,000 visiting teachers from around the world will go to observe Clark and other educators demonstrate their groundbreaking teaching methods. Teachers can attend for a day or week and sit in on classes to observe the new approaches. Amazingly, the school is averaging more than 300 e-mails a day from teachers requesting the opportunity to be part of it. The Ron Clark Academy opens this month to 60 students in a state-of-the-art facility in South Atlanta, financed by proceeds from Clark’s two best-selling books as well as financial support from corporations such as Great American Financial Resources, Comcast, and Verizon Wireless, philanthropies including the Turner Foundation, Inc., and individuals including Mr. and Mrs. Charles Scheper, Frank Schuler, and Noel Khalil. His initial student body was hand-picked from among hundreds of applicants based on what Clark refers to as “untapped potential.” While the annual tuition for each student is $14,000, most students’ families are contributing an average of just $30 per month, based on their income. Several families pay more, including a handful that pays full tuition. Individuals such as private jeweler Jonathan Shapero have become involved to help defray the cost and raise awareness. “The education system needs an overhaul,” Shapero says. “Clark is destined to be the catalyst. He has his finger on the pulse of these kids. One man can make a change, and what’s more exciting is that it’s happening in Atlanta. We can say that changing the world started here.”
Even the design of the Academy, by Sharon Tsepas of Urban Studio, is unlike that of any other school. In the atrium, a giant slide twirls down from the second floor. There are quotes on the wall from leaders past and present, such as, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” (Nelson Mandela); and “Life is like a daring adventure or nothing” (Helen Keller). Bathrooms are outfitted with flat-screen televisions to serve as distractions because, Clark says, 75 percent of school fights begin there. Each classroom is unique: the science room looks like a giant space shuttle from NASA; the social-studies room has Delta jet-airliner seats, and the teachers’ desk is a Delta check-in counter; and the English classroom feels like you are hanging out in the inner city, with graffiti-splashed walls. Clark has even brought a bit of his past with him: his desk is the door from the elementary school in North Carolina where he first taught. Clark says having a giant sense of humor is also a major component of his success. “Once people laugh, they are receptive,” he says. During a recent book signing, there was a man in line wearing a T-shirt with a skylight company logo. Clark had dreamed about having a huge skylight over the atrium, so when he signed the man’s book, he said, “Thank you for your donation of the skylight.” The man asked what he meant, Clark explained and they both laughed. Sure enough, the man followed through by donating a beautiful skylight that now frames the entryway. Mike Nielsen, the accidental donor, now says, “I was blown away by Ron’s passion and what good it would do |
|
