Is There Hope for Minneapolis?

COVID-19 cases are declining, mask mandates have lifted, and businesses are opening back up again. Summer in Minnesota feels more hopeful this year, doesn’t it?

Many of us are seeing loved ones we haven’t seen in months. We’re celebrating graduations, birthdays, reunions, and simple pleasures like eating at restaurants. Kids are playing sports, and enjoying programs and camps. We’re excited to embrace normal life again.

But, for many of our urban neighbors—especially in Minneapolis—it’s going to be a longer road to recovery. After nearly a year of distance learning only, social disconnection, and inconsistent support, thousands of youth in our city are heading into a new school year unprepared. With fewer resources and supports, low-income children of color have been impacted more severely —suffering up to a full year of learning loss, according to the latest national estimates by McKinsey & Company in December 2020 [1].

The compounded effects of last summer’s rioting and unrest–plus near-record levels of violent crime this year—have continued to deeply impact urban families. So far in 2021, there have been more than 3,000 violent crimes reported in our city, including 46 homicides (City of Minneapolis, July 2021) [2].

What’s the solution?

Education seems to be the logical answer. People with a high school diploma or advanced degree are much more likely to have higher earnings and to avoid incarceration. In America, the median annual income for a full-time employed young adult (age 25-34) with a Bachelor’s degree is nearly two times higher than the median annual income of a young adult with no high school diploma (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019) [3].

Sadly, in Minnesota state prisons, only 29% of inmates have a traditional high school diploma (MN Department of Corrections, 2021) [4].

In 2017, The Alliance for Excellent Education estimated that, across the Twin Cities metro, higher graduation rates for just one  high school class would lead to millions of dollars in additional earned income, millions of dollars in public healthcare savings, substantial job growth, and a stronger overall economy [5]. 

Academic achievement plays an important role in financial success, and can serve as a powerful deterrent from crime. But, as parents and educators, we have to be careful not to focus on teaching head knowledge at the expense of shaping values and character.

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

At Hope Academy, we focus on feeding both the hearts and minds of our students. We believe every child was made in the image of God and is capable of achieving great things.

Through a classical, Christian K-12 education, students are challenged to seek goodness, truth, and beauty as they learn about God and His Creation, study Latin, read the Great Books of Western Literature, memorize our school’s creed, and think critically during Socratic discussions and debates.

Our goal is to teach students how to think, not just what to think—to help students discern what is true and false, and what to treasure as they engage with the world around them. One of our teachers shares more about classical education at Hope Academy in this video.