Public schools were designed as the great equalizers of our society - the place where all children could have access to educational opportunities to make something of themselves in adulthood.
If you had looked at my life when I was 14 years old and said, 'Well, what's going to happen to this kid?' you would have concluded that I would have struggled with what academics call upward mobility.
It's never too late to move to a good place to try to improve your child's outcomes in adulthood.
I founded Camellia Network with my dear friend Isis Dallis Keigwin. The mission of our organization is to create a national network that connects every youth aging out of foster care to the critical resources, opportunities, and support they need to thrive in adulthood.
The capacity of children to become self-sufficient and successful adults is compromised not only by monetary poverty, but by poverty of experience, influence, and expectation
I have always believed that the way my parents disciplined me has a great deal to do with the success I have enjoyed as a man.
I never really had that father figure to look up to. I think that's the reason I'm so ambitious. I felt like I wasn't appreciated as a child so I wanted to prove my worth as an adult, as an actor.
I don't think that being an actor or being a performer at a young age leads to failures as an adult. There's a lot more success stories than I think people recognize.
Children who are healthy - and have adequate nutrition - are much more likely to attend school. People who finish school and do well have higher earning potential in their adult lives.
If bad things happen to you as a kid, it's hard for you to succeed as an adult.
There are few successful adults who were not first successful children.
A working definition of fathering might be this: fathering is the act of guiding a child to behave in ways that lead to the child's becoming a secure child in full, thus increasing his or her chances of being happy and fruitful as a young adult.
I definitely have managed to overcome dyslexia now to become a fully functional human being but things were a lot more difficult when I was younger.
