Opinion | Cameron Turner: PUSD Students’ Unlimited Possibilities

When asked in June to clarify statements he’d made about the children of single mothers in a 1995 book, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush told reporters, “It’s a huge challenge for single moms to raise children in the world that we’re in today, and it hurts the prospects, it limits the possibilities of young people being able to live lives or purpose and meaning.”

As if the mere fact of being raised by an unmarried mom restricts a person’s life choices and potential. But kids all over America – including a lot of youngsters here in Pasadena’s public schools – are disproving that idea every day.

Bush was right about single moms dealing with big challenges. However, many of those challenges are linked more to economic hardship than the physical absence of a child’s father. But most conservative Republicans are loathe to support increased wages or expanded job training (as with President Obama’s call for free community college) as strategies for reducing the poverty faced by many single moms or to broaden the “possibilities” open to their children.

The wrongheadedness of Jeb Bush’s claim about the children of single moms having limited possibilities is highlighted by the fact that Bush said this while running for President. Two of our most successful two-term Presidents and one of Bush’s rivals in the current Republican race for the White House are the sons of single mothers. Growing up in economically challenged circumstances without their dads didn’t limit the possibilities for Barack Obama, Bill Clinton or Ben Carson “to live lives or purpose and meaning.” (FYI: I’ve got major problems with the prejudices and ignorance reflected in Dr. Carson’s views on Muslims, global warming, Planned Parenthood, gays and the Black Lives Matter movement but we can discuss those at another time.)

But one needn’t look all the way to the Oval Office, the surgeon’s table, or the pinnacle of any other profession to locate individuals who were raised by single moms and have achieved great personal success. We are surrounded by proof that the kids of single mothers have unlimited possibilities. A great place to witness this fact is here in our Pasadena Unified School District.

Whenever I return to my beloved alma mater, John Muir High School — to announce football games, participate in Alumni Association events or to speak with students through organizations like the Black Students Union, ASB or MPYD (Mentoring & Partnership for Youth Development) — I am always inspired to see how our youth are overcoming significant obstacles. Through determination and diligence, combined with the guidance and optimism of dedicated school officials and family members (including plenty of single moms and some single dads, also), students are producing in the classroom, blossoming through extracurricular activities, avoiding the snares of the streets, graduating and embarking on promising futures. Jordan Davis-Scott, salutatorian for the Muir class of 2015, trumpeted these successes in a goosebump-raising commencement speech in which she declared:

“We were expected to lose and that’s where they were wrong! We knew that our hard work would change the outcome of those negative expectations…It doesn’t matter who doesn’t think you’re worthy, or if you’re expected to struggle. It doesn’t matter if you are disadvantaged, viewed as inferior and aren’t expected to win. What matters is your fight and how you finish!”

Miss Jordan’s inspired words ring true not only for Muir’s 2015 graduates, but for students of every grade level throughout the PUSD and, indeed, all across our nation. Limited possibilities? No. More like limitless!

Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my two cents.