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Feature
Gifted Hands
A remarkable story of Dr. Benjamin Carson.
At one time young Ben Carson had the lowest grades in his middle school class, and was the butt of teasing by his white classmates. Worse yet, he himself believed that he was just not smart enough to do the work.
Fortunately for him, his mother, whose own education went no further than the third grade, insisted that he was smart. She cut off the television set and made him and his brother hit the books — books that she herself could scarcely read.
As young Ben’s school work began to catch up with that of his classmates, and then began to surpass that of his classmates, his whole view of himself and of the wider world around him began to change. He began to think that he wanted to become a doctor.
There were a lot of obstacles to overcome along the way, including the fact that his mother had to be away from time to time for psychiatric treatment, as she tried to cope with the heavy pressures of trying to raise two boys whose father had deserted the family that she now had to support on a maid’s wages.
In many ways the obstacles facing young Ben Carson were like those faced by so many other youngsters in the ghetto. What was different was that he overcame those obstacles with the help of a truly heroic mother and the values she instilled in him.
It is an inspiring personal story, told plainly and unpretentiously, including the continuing challenges he faced later as a neurosurgeon operating on the brains of people with life-threatening medical problems, often with the odds against them.
To me it was a personal story in another sense, that some of his experiences as a youngster brought back experiences that I went through growing up in Harlem many years earlier.
I could understand all too well what it was like to be the lowest performing child in a class. That was my situation in the fourth grade, after my family had moved up from the South, where I had been one of the best students in the third grade — but in a grossly inferior school system.
Now I sometimes found myself in tears because it was so hard to try to get through my homework.
But in one sense I was much more fortunate than Ben Carson and other black youngsters today. The shock of being in a school, whose standards were higher than I was able to meet at first, took place in an all-black school in Harlem, so that there was none of the additional complications that such an experience can have for a black youngster in a predominantly white school.
By the time I first entered a predominantly white school, I had already caught up, and had no trouble with the school work. Decades later, in the course of running a research project, I learned that the Harlem school, where I had so much trouble catching up, had an average IQ of 84 back when I was there.
In the predominantly white school to which I later went, I was put in a class for children with IQs of 120 and up, and had no trouble competing with them. But I would have been totally wiped out if I had gone there two years earlier — and who knows what racial hang-ups that might have led to?
Chance plays a large part in everyone’s life. The home in which you are raised is often a big part of luck being on your side or against you. But you don’t need parents with Ph.D.s to make sure that you make the most of your education.
The kinds of things that statisticians can measure, such as family income or parents’ education, are not the crucial things. The family’s attitude toward education and toward life can make all the difference.
Virtually everything was against young Ben Carson, except for his mother’s attitudes and values. But, armed with her outlook, he was able to fight his way through many battles, including battles to control his own temper, as well as external obstacles.
Today, Dr. Benjamin Carson is a renowned neurosurgeon at a renowned institution, Johns Hopkins University. But what got him there was wholly different from what is being offered to many ghetto youths today, much of which is not merely futile but counterproductive.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CREATORS.COM
About the Author
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com. To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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Tina B| 3.19.13 @ 7:13AM
Dr. Sowell you glean the essence of dr. Ben's life so acutely. I was blessed to be introduced to him (not in person, unfortunately) by a Vietnam Vet, sitting outside my middle school waiting for his college class to begin. We shared our campus with a community college under construction just a block away. His class was being held in my classroom, as a newbie teacher I had to say yes to my boss' request to host the class.
So I walked the guy back into my classroom even though he had an hour to kill before it began. I was from the Vietnam War era so I was always grateful to meet a Vet. I chatted it up with him and he offered to come speak to my 8th grade students about getting an education while you were young. He had a long white beard and spoke so eloquently I took him up on his offer and invited him for the next week. We spoke of God, and hard work and loving parents and whatever else we believed could lead to a successful future.
When he came to share with my kids, he brought a video tape of someone I had never heard of. It was the mid-90s. The Vet told me he would like to show the students a great man who had impacted his own life. He mentioned that God and the Bible would be reference points spoken of on the video, and did I mind? I said no, even though I knew I was taking a risk, if complaints were voiced I would take some heat. I trusted his opinion by then and had always loved risk taking.
alice921| 3.19.13 @ 2:48PM
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Tina B| 3.19.13 @ 7:14AM
(continued) Long story short, I met the awesome Dr. Ben Carson then, and have continued to follow his carreer highlights ever since. In his video he shared his life story, and spoke of overcoming adversities in his life, such as poverty, illiteracy, racism and a bad temper. I have never forgotten either the Vietnam Vet who brought me the wisdom of this great man nor could I ever forget Dr. Carson.
A few years later, when my daughter attended a Billy Graham Crusade in Orlando, the young college girl who mentored my Niki for months afterward mentioned Dr. Carson. She was a Carson Scholar, working at UT on her undergrad degree. She was a fine example of a hard working Christian serving the Lord in the prime years of her life.
I share this story because you, Dr. Sowell, were introduced to my son by YouTube video after he read your columns in various emags. He brought you to my attention and I have gotten to know you the same way. God bless and keep you safe as well as Dr. Carson. And I look forward to meeting you both someday, here, there, or in the air.
Joellen| 3.19.13 @ 7:17AM
Tina, what a beautiful way to start the morning, reading your story. We missed you last week, glad you're back.
Tina B| 3.19.13 @ 7:37AM
Missed you too, Joellen, but everything I read by you warmed my little pea-pickin' heart. God bless and keep you.
Pecos Pete| 3.19.13 @ 9:07AM
Tina: Thank you for taking the time to share that bit of history. You are there with Dr. Sowell and Dr. Carson in my bucket of people I admire.
jothepro| 3.19.13 @ 9:14AM
Tina, you warmed my heart this morning. Thank You....
Alan's Girl| 3.19.13 @ 8:11PM
Thank you, Tina. You gave my less-than-perfect day a perfect finish. You make me want to change professions. God Bless You!
Cobalt| 3.19.13 @ 7:22AM
I hope Dr. Benjamin Carson runs for President, and hopefully the news media won't try to destroy him.
"Being White in Philly"
By Robert Huber
http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....04077.html
jothepro| 3.19.13 @ 9:17AM
Cobalt, They will try to destroy him. That's what they do to people they disagree with. Nothing can stop the paradise that awaits us.....
markenoff| 3.19.13 @ 4:03PM
We won't need another President as long as Obama's alive. Obama/Biden 2016 & 2020 & 2024 & 2028 & 2032..........
UpChuck.Liberals| 3.20.13 @ 12:37AM
I believe you not referring to a President but a Dictator, dupe.
SUBVET| 3.19.13 @ 9:30AM
It is in this time.......Daniel 2:21
Von Mises Jr| 3.19.13 @ 10:26AM
The key point that Dr. Sowell made in conclusion was the one that was racing through my head as I read this story. It is not race, gender, ethnicity or economic factors that made both Dr. Sowell and Dr. Carson great men. It is "American Exceptionalism."
And the shame and pity is we have a black man as President that will destroy it for all if he has his way.
BTW, I am anxiously awaiting Dr. Sowell's book "Marxism" Philosophy and Economics." When it arrives, I surpass the two-dozen quantities of Dr. Sowell books in my library.
God blesses Dr. Sowell.
Tina B| 3.19.13 @ 1:05PM
Yes VM. And to those of you who encourage me and each other, I have to keep reminding myself according to the greatest book of history, prophecy and the manual for Life 101 in it's essence, the good guys (us) win this battle, and I say the sooner the better. The fact that so many of our acquaintances, and our friends, and, maybe even our families disagree with us, and want to follow obamaniac to their doom, cannot change this fact. In His time, in His way, and to His Glory.
Keep teaching, VMJ, and I'll keep cheerleading!
Von Mises Jr| 3.19.13 @ 2:03PM
Thanks Tina. And you and Joellen keep preaching the word of God. It inspires me.
I would rather be fishing or looking at some Monet, so you’re kind words keep me going.
And everyone can do us all a favor if we learn to use troll tactics on trolls, not Christian forgiveness. I apologize for getting spicy at times, but if they are not given a dose of their own medicine, they return like the Plague.
LarryK| 3.19.13 @ 3:35PM
Dr. Carson is way too overqualified to be President. Now if he were just a community organizer...
Anthony| 3.19.13 @ 3:59PM
Two true Hall of Famers; Drs. Sowell and Carson.
cicero| 3.19.13 @ 4:41PM
What the good doctors exemplify is that there is much value in allowing our kids to overcome challenges, rather than remove the challenges, or renaming them something other than what they are. For a child never to have to overcome challenges, renders the child weak forever. Rather than conquer through effort, they have to compensate by prevarication, cheating, whining, weaseling, or subtrofuge. (Wait, that sounds like our political class!)
In order to insure a child's failure, all you need to do is give him an excuse as to why he can't do what is needed. Dr. Carson grew up in the same Detroit that I did (about 10 years my junior), but I had the advantage of a mother and father. They were not well educated, but were accomplished. She was a homemaker, and he was a UAW official. She finished the 11th grade, he the 8th. We were told of accomplishments, not failures. There was no excuse for failure. This was America, and we were healthy, and had more brains that the average chicken.
It seems today that we give the kids excuses why they cannot do things, that they can clearly do if given no other choice. If you want something, work for it. No work - no nothing.
Sturmudgeon| 3.19.13 @ 10:35PM
Cicero: you hit the nail on the head!
But sadly, we seem to have "no fail" attitudes as goals in our schools... so how do kids 'learn' to overcome their adversities?
Kingofthenet| 3.19.13 @ 11:26PM
I used to have a saying that I told everyone for the longest time: "There is a lot MORE Racism then the average White Person believes and a lot LESS then the average Black person believes."
But based on comments in the Martin/Zimm case and even here, I NOW think the Blacks have it MORE right.