7. When I graduated from high School I got a job at Temple U. hospital in Philadelphia as a trainee. This was a funded federal program (NIH).Using this as a background I took a Job at Lankenau Hospital again in Philadelphia.
8. To get to Lankenau Hospital I had to take two busses and passed every day by St. Joseph's College. A Jesuit run institution.
9. One day I got off the bus early and went into the door labeled "admissions". I told the lady there I wanted to go to college. She told me to wait outside on a bench. After a little while A Jesuit priest came out, sat next to me and talked to me for about an hour. When we were done he took me into the office and told the lady there to give me forms as I was admitted to St. Joseph's. I never took the SAT's. Tuition at St. Joseph's was $400 a semester.
10. For six years I attended St. Josephs, paying for my tuition out of my salary at Lankenau. I graduated with a BS in Chemistry and a 3.45 GPA.
11. Using my newly minted BS I got a job as a lab technician at a state run hospital. The MD who ran the laboratory there moved over to be chairman of the department of medicine at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital on broad street in Philadelphia. I took a bus one day and met with him and he gave me a job at Hahnemann. Part of the package of working at Hahnemann was you could take graduate courses for free. I took two or three courses a semester along with my working responsibilities. Doing this I earned a master's and then a PhD. and was given a teaching post at Hahnemann. I was 30 years old.
Now I ask: Is such a story possible today?? Can black kids caught in the 'web of poverty' boot strap themselves into the middle class?
I don't think they can.
8. To get to Lankenau Hospital I had to take two busses and passed every day by St. Joseph's College. A Jesuit run institution.
9. One day I got off the bus early and went into the door labeled "admissions". I told the lady there I wanted to go to college. She told me to wait outside on a bench. After a little while A Jesuit priest came out, sat next to me and talked to me for about an hour. When we were done he took me into the office and told the lady there to give me forms as I was admitted to St. Joseph's. I never took the SAT's. Tuition at St. Joseph's was $400 a semester.
10. For six years I attended St. Josephs, paying for my tuition out of my salary at Lankenau. I graduated with a BS in Chemistry and a 3.45 GPA.
11. Using my newly minted BS I got a job as a lab technician at a state run hospital. The MD who ran the laboratory there moved over to be chairman of the department of medicine at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital on broad street in Philadelphia. I took a bus one day and met with him and he gave me a job at Hahnemann. Part of the package of working at Hahnemann was you could take graduate courses for free. I took two or three courses a semester along with my working responsibilities. Doing this I earned a master's and then a PhD. and was given a teaching post at Hahnemann. I was 30 years old.
Now I ask: Is such a story possible today?? Can black kids caught in the 'web of poverty' boot strap themselves into the middle class?
I don't think they can.
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