Much has been said about the declining quality of education in this country, especially since the pandemic triggered the debate between classroom vs. virtual learning. It has been a challenge for many school districts to leverage the learning methods and given the equators, most schools districts struggled to maintain their consistency. 
During the school year 2013-14, the U.S. Department of Education reported an all-time high of 82% national graduation, with 73% of African American students graduating in four years.
The graduation rate increase was good news, but research shows that some students were still not prepared for college upon graduation.
In fact, only 6% of ACT-tested African American high school graduates met college readiness benchmarks in each of the four primary subjects: English, reading, math, and science, compared to 28% for all students in 2015. (US Dept of Ed).
Even in the midst of racial disparities, there are reasons to sit up and take notice of how our youths can adapt and still show promise of a brighter future.
Take the case of Michael Kevin Kearney, the youngest kid to go to college at the age of 6, and graduated at the age of ten years old with a degree of Associate Science in Geology.
He has gone on to become a college professor and a game show contestant who has won over a million dollars on the game show Jeopardy. He holds the Guinness World Record as the youngest university graduate of all time.
At the age of 14, Kearney was the world’s youngest postgraduate after he graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a Master’s in Biochemistry.
Another prized example is Carson Huey-You, another African-American student.