In Latin, there was a legal term, condicio sine qua non, which literally translates as “a condition without which not.”  In plain talk, a sine qua non is something absolutely indispensable, essential, or necessary.  Without the sine qua non, whatever is supposed to happen simply cannot happen and what must be done most probably won’t get done.

 At least since the fall of 2005, when I began to teach U. S. history and Latin to African-American students at the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada, it has become evident that vast swaths of black students--judging by my experiences in Las Vegas and Oakland, California--are passed from middle school each year without any solidly decent understanding of basic English grammar and composition.  

The 2009 CST (California Standardized Testing) English-Language Arts test scores demonstrated the following about African-American students enrolled in grades 2-11 in the Oakland Unified School District: 57% of those in 2nd grade; 71% in 3rd grade; 58% in 4th; 65% in 5th; 75% in 6th; 69% in 7th; 80% in 8th; 82% in 9th; 87% in 10th; and 85% of those in 11th grade scored below proficiency in the area of English-Language Arts.

Needles to say, such a lack of language arts skills very early turns these students against reading.  By not reading, exposure to the building blocks of literacy becomes a missed opportunity, one entirely free.  And by not reading, any possibility of learning how to write effectively--say, good enough to publish a letter-to-the-editor in any of our country’s second-rate newspapers--is impaired.

Given this state of academic unpreparedness, the challenges of being a student grow exponentially each successive school year.  Imagine a student who cannot read--and who also cannot write because he cannot read--and to complicate matters, imagine that this same student cannot, does not, or will not follow directions, show respect, or cooperate, even in the broadest inter-personal sense.

The argument, put forth by reformists, that youth these days are too savvy for antiquated pedagogy, falls short because it does not explain the disrespect that drowns classrooms all across America.

The argument, put forth by revolutionaries, that our youth live in a violent, decadent, anchor-less world, exacerbated by a lack of leadership, greed, a puerile fascination with electronic gadgets, civic apathy, and an erosion of basic human values, is weak because it is so strong--if we invoke the deplorable state of the world as an excuse, then we are already wallowing in the ashes of the American demise.

In other parts of the world, some “center” is holding and children are learning how to read and do math and science, and how to use their academic skills to live well.  Seventeen countries (including Canada, the Netherlands, Korea, Australia, Sweden, Ireland, and the Slovak Republic) have higher average test scores and lower income-based inequality than the United States.

The Oakland Unified School District had “the worst total graduation rate” of all California public school districts, as well as the lowest graduation rates for African-Americans (23.4%), Latino-Americans (25.3%), and Native Americans (9.3%).

Yet, before students are able to learn how to read and write, to do math and science, they must first, of course, be able to sit down, to follow directions, to cooperate, to participate.  They do not even have to sit down, if they can behave accordingly and be open to learning.

There is a sine qua non for learning: it is being eager; at the very least, it’s not interrupting the teacher, or those students who are trying to graduate.