Chicago Urban Prep Story Defies Conceptual Entrapment

By Charles S. Mombo

Chicago Urban Prep Story Defies Conceptual Entrapment the entire senior class is college bound.

In his book, Black Demons: Mass Media's Depiction of the African American Male Criminal Stereotype, Dennis Rome, a sociologist and associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Indiana University Bloomington tried to open people's eyes to a form of indoctrination they experience day in and day out. Contemporary media, he says, particularly through extreme gangster rap music, reality crime shows and newscasts, have essentially defined crime and given it a black face, despite statistics that paint a different picture. For example, he cites statistics that point to higher cocaine use among whites than blacks, an impression one does not get while watching the evening news or the reality show COPS, he says.

Some narrow minded leaders in our society have gone so far as to indicate that nothing good comes out of an urban public high schools. Urban Prep Academies is a nonprofit organization founded in 2002 by Mr. Tim King and a group of African-American education, business and civic leaders. The school takes exception to those "conceptual entrapment by imagery," as referred to by Rome. The Urban Prep Academies subscribe to the believe that building a positive school culture is very important and it helps promote positive self-esteem and high achievement. They foster a positive school culture by holding their students accountable to live by the a very positive and affirming creed which they recite each morning in Community. The Creed was developed by Team UP prior to the opening of the school and it has been embraced by our entire community.

So when Urban Prep announced that all 107 seniors had been accepted to more than 50 schools it was not a surprise at all. The students take a rigorous college prep courses, including required double periods of English, spend about 72,000 more minutes in class over four years than traditional CPS schools, follow a strict code of conduct, and participate in a variety of activities focused on building the skills needed to succeed in college and in life.

A partial list of some of the 50 universities and colleges that have accepted Urban Prep students include Alabama A&M University, Arkansas State University, Ball State University, Clark Atlanta University, DePaul University, Earlham College, Fisk University, Grambling State University, Howard University, Indiana State University, Jackson State University, Kansas State University, Loyola University, Ohio, Morehouse College, Northwestern University, Rutgers University, and Xavier University of Louisiana.

Chocolate City congratulates the young men of Urban Prep senior class on their accomplishment of achieving 100% college bound success.

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