We Know We Have an Achievement Gap — But We Also Have a Passion Gap that Needs Closing

Recently, a Success Academy high school senior, Zahir Lara, was featured in the local news because of his passion for music. Zahir, who has attended Success Academy since elementary school, joined our music program as a freshman at SA’s Manhattan high school and fell in love. He threw himself into learning drums and saxophone, took every music elective, joined every ensemble, and became a leading musician at the school. In January, his passion and talent were recognized by the New York Pops, when they selected him for a prestigious conducting apprenticeship —?one of only four New York City students selected and the only one from a non-selective public school.?

Most people are familiar with the “achievement gap” that exists between low-income and affluent children: Closing it by increasing access to academic excellence has long been the aim of a national education reform movement. But there is another gap that is rarely discussed and just as pernicious: The passion gap. Too few children from low-income backgrounds have opportunities to discover and pursue passions outside of academics —?in the arts, sports, or activities like debate, chess, and community service.

It is impossible to overstate the benefits to children of finding a passion. It is revelatory to them to realize that working hard at something can be immensely pleasurable. Kids put effort into academics because it’s their duty and responsibility — akin to having a job as an adult. But, as Zahir’s trajectory so vividly illustrates, when young people are truly passionate about a subject of their choosing, they become self-motivated to practice, compete, and excel without any prodding by adults. Moreover, the standard of excellence in activities like music, basketball, and debate?is often higher and even more specific than in academics, driving children to continually raise the bar for themselves while helping them build a healthy resilience about the occasional failures they inevitably experience.

When I founded my first Success Academy school in Harlem, I understood these facts intuitively. I had visited high-poverty schools across the country and, besides struggling academically, outlets for play and exploration were underdeveloped. My own children had attended an elite nursery school where every day they played with blocks — the school even had a blocks consultant. I knew I wanted the children we served to have similar opportunities to fall in love with blocks play, so I hired that consultant and made wooden block play part of our daily school design.

It was only the beginning. I made chess part of Success Academy’s core curriculum because I saw how it gave my three-year-old son, who had speech delays, an alternative outlet for expressing his love of learning. I established visual arts and sports programs. As we opened more schools and expanded to higher grades, we added more programs — debate, theater, soccer, music, computer science, basketball. We designed our middle schools to allow for greater depth and specialization in scholars’ chosen pursuits and when it was time to open high schools, we made sure they offered dozens of electives, clubs, and teams.?

These programs cost money, and public charter schools receive significantly less per-pupil funding than district schools. But as we scaled — and today we serve 20,000 students in 49 schools — we were committed to ensuring that all our students had access to robust co-curriculars and we sacrificed other priorities, like small class sizes, to make sure that happened.?

I’m now in my 17th year leading Success Academy and we have thousands of scholars immersed in co-curriculars — more than 5,000 participate in soccer, for example, and 7,500 in chess. The many transformations I have witnessed continually spur me to find new ways to expand and strengthen these programs. Hassana Pedro, for example, had difficulties with speech until her fifth-grade advisor suggested she try debate. Four years later she is captain of her school debate team with plans to become an immigration lawyer. Geah Jean Baptiste was a shy little girl when she joined our elementary school. She fell in love with chess and now is an advocate for women in the sport who is headed to Harvard . Wuraola Adetola’s love of dance inspired her to create an Afrobeats dance club in high school, which launched her into a highly visible leadership role. Yacouba Bamba’s discovered soccer as a first grader, and today is playing for the New York City Red Bulls ’ pre-professional team.?

These are just a few of the many Success Academy students whose passions propelled tremendous social, emotional, and intellectual growth and were an ongoing source of personal joy. Whether such interests sow the seeds of lifelong professional pursuits or persist as beloved personal pastimes, they give young people community, connection, and the feeling they’ve found their home in the world.?

But too many children never have this chance. Arts , sports , and other activities are often viewed as nice-to-haves and deprioritized in school budgets. That should spur all of us to action. Lawmakers, school, and district leaders, community service providers, and philanthropists must partner to ensure that all children have access to high-quality, non-academic activities so they have the opportunity to discover their purpose and passion.