Whitlock: LeBron James’ I Promise School can’t match the benefits of a father

To no serious person’s surprise, LeBron James’ solution for the academic woes of at-risk Akron students is failing.

Five years into the well-financed I Promise School, according to news reports, not a single eighth-grader can pass Ohio’s math test and just 8% of the entire student body can read at an appropriate level.

LeBron James is not the second coming of Joe Clark, the baseball-bat-carrying school principal immortalized in the movie “Lean on Me.” As an educator, the NBA superstar has far more in common with Elizabeth Halsey, the gold-digging, pot-smoking, corner-cutting harlot from “Bad Teacher.”

I Promise is what happens when public relations managers convince a well-intentioned dumb jock to chase Muhammad Ali’s legacy by using fame and influence to concoct a utopian vision of middle school for poor kids.

I Promise is a secular, liberal fantasy. Taxpayers foot the overwhelming majority of the bill, a celebrity finances the luxuries, and corporate media write glowing features at the school’s launch and return years later to explain away the failure by reminding everyone the decision-makers “meant well.”

I Promise uses James’ money to buy school uniforms, food for families, job-placement services for parents, bikes and helmets for each student, Nike-themed decorations inside the building, and, very soon, affordable housing near the school.

In LeBron’s mind and the minds of his progressive handlers, a lack of uniforms, food, bikes, affordable housing, and a mother with a high-paying job are all that stood in the way of LeBron being an honor roll student in junior high. Five years of I Promise blows up that myth.

The LeBron James Family Foundation released a statement: "When we started this work to wraparound students through education, we entered this partnership with Akron Public School for the long haul. Because this work requires a long-term commitment, hard work, and a lot of love and care. And that's what we bring each and every day because the I Promise School is more than a school. We're here for the ups and downs, and will continue to wraparound our students and their entire families so they can be successful in school and in life, no matter the challenges and obstacles that come their way."

Derrick Hall, the president of the school board, was a bit more straightforward.

“For me as a board member, I just think about all the resources that we’re providing,” Hall said. “And I just, I’m just disappointed that I don’t think, it doesn’t appear like we’re seeing the kind of change that we would expect to see.”

Clearly this man has not been paying close attention. America has been throwing money at schools for decades without any discernible progress.

In order to excel, poor kids need the exact same thing as rich kids: a father in the home – preferably two of them. One should be called Daddy and the other Jesus Christ.

Kids need dads more than free lunch, bicycles, school uniforms, Nike shoes, and affordable housing. No serious person denies this.

LeBron doesn’t deny it.

He’s rich, famous, and in great health, and he could live the life of Hugh Hefner if he desired. He chose to marry his high school sweetheart and build a family. He’s given his three children what he was denied in childhood. He had every conceivable option and chose marriage and family.

He should use his money, fame, and influence to promote marriage within the black community to which he proclaims allegiance. How? By partnering with a church in Akron to promote the benefits of biblical marriage and a close relationship with our real father (Jesus Christ).

Any athlete or celebrity serious about addressing the pathologies plaguing poor black people should partner with a faith leader and church.

You can’t trust greedy preachers? OK. Can you trust the black, lesbian, mansion-purchasing Marxists who founded Black Lives Matter? Is it wiser to blow your money and credibility on bikes, helmets, and sneakers for junior high students?

Black kids either do not know or have an improper relationship with their fathers (Daddy and Jesus). That is at the root of all of our problems. Affordable housing is a poor substitute for dear old dads.

How many government- and celebrity-financed stepdaddies (welfare, affirmative action, social justice initiatives, criminal justice reform, etc.) have to fail before we accept God’s family design as the solution?

I Promise is the definition of insanity. Only God’s Promise will work. Only the nuclear family can fix what’s wrong in America. There are countless studies proving that intact families with involved dads produce high-achieving kids regardless of economic status or race.

LeBron knows this. But it’s much easier to finance a small percentage of a school than to stand against the liberal matriarchy.

It sounds like I’m picking on LeBron James. I’m not. I used to think the same foolish stuff. In my 20s, 30s, and 40s, I did not place a high enough priority on family. I thought money could fix and/or improve everything. I thought responsibility for and accountability to children and a spouse impeded happiness and fulfillment. I thought zip codes and economic status explained achievement gaps.

I was a fool. I was not alone. LeBron isn’t alone either.

Most of America, including the American citizens claiming religious faith, do not really comprehend the importance of fathers. We give it lip service. But we don’t really believe it.

I’m gonna share a story. I won’t use a name because I don’t want to embarrass someone close to me. But someone close to me considers herself a devout Christian. She had a short-lived marriage years ago. She tells everyone she made a mistake by marrying a man who had a poor relationship with his mother.

“You can measure the quality of a man by how he treats his mother,” she has said for years.

Keep in mind, she’s a self-described devout Christian. Her ex-husband never knew his biological father, never read the Bible, and was at best agnostic when it came to faith in God. She thinks the problem with her ex was his relationship with his mother. The man didn’t know either one of his fathers. That’s why he broke his marital vows, drank and gambled to excess, and came and went as he pleased.

The success and failure of man can be best understood through examining our obedience to and relationship with our fathers.

Women think the world revolves around them and their relationship with material items. In our matriarchal culture, men think like women. We cover our insecurities with jewelry, designer clothes, and sex. We seek to eliminate character-building hardships in pursuit of safety and convenience. We value brand-building attention far more than difficult solutions.

I Promise enhanced LeBron’s brand. Taking a knee enhanced Colin Kaepernick’s brand. The NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball all enhanced their ESG corporate credit scores by supporting Black Lives Matter.

Explaining that women and children need husbands and fathers who obey God will get you labeled a misogynist.