Dr. Vincent Matthews | Superintendent, San Francisco Unified School District
Recently I decided to have a DNA test so I could learn more about my ancestry. The results showed that I am 85% Nigerian and provided me with a pathway to research who my ancestors were and how they arrived in the United States. They came as slaves.
A Virginia man named John Matthews enslaved them, and that is where our family name Matthews comes from. He later moved to Texas, taking my ancestors with him. Several generations later, my parents were born, grew up and met in Fort Worth.
My mother and father both worked in a local café where they bussed tables and washed dishes. At that time in the segregated South, they attended all African American schools.
Also due to segregation, my parents could not eat in the restaurant where they worked, but that did not keep them from falling in love. My mother loved to tell the story that while washing dishes together, she and my father would touch each other’s hands under the soap suds. She always said it was love at first touch!
As an African American man, my father recognized that his job prospects at that time were extremely limited, so he proudly joined the United States Navy. My mother wanted to be closer to him when he came to port so she moved to San Francisco where they could be together when he was on shore leave.
We lived in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco in the 1960s. There are many stories I could share about living in Haight-Ashbury during that time in our nation’s history, but I will save those for another day.
Our church was in an area of San Francisco called Hunter’s Point which at the time was an African American community. Growing up Baptist in the 1960s, if the church doors were open, we were there.
Every day of the week we would pack up and head to church. Our Sunday services lasted all day. Monday nights were usher board meetings. Wednesday nights we had Bible study. Thursday nights we had choir practice and on Saturday we had missionary meetings.
Even though we lived in Haight-Ashbury, I was raised in the church at Hunter’s Point. Reflecting on that dynamic, I recognize the unique opportunity my parents provided me. I got to see and experience two completely different lifestyles and worlds.
Most people recognize Haight-Ashbury as ground zero for the hippie culture; however, it was also one of the earliest and best examples of how a truly diverse neighborhood could live and thrive together. Our schools were integrated with many people who looked like me and many who did not look like me. We had experienced, dedicated teachers who enjoyed their jobs, challenged us every day and never wanted to leave.
Since I spent so much time in Hunter’s Point, my best friends were all from that neighborhood. They went to the local schools which were almost all African American. I would go play in their neighborhoods and schoolyards and quickly learned their schools were nothing like mine. Broken glass littered the playgrounds, and they had metal gates on the windows. Due to high teacher turnover, many of my friends did not recognize familiar adult faces when school started each year.
When it came time to attend high school, we all came together and attended McAteer High School, and that is where I really understood that the quality of their education was different than the quality of mine. I was thriving academically, and my friends struggled to maintain the C average necessary to remain academically eligible for extra-curricular activities.
I loved playing all sports and especially enjoyed having my friends as teammates, and I began to tutor them so we could be together. The surge of electricity I felt helping someone understand a concept or learn something new was energizing.
That experience laid the foundation for me wanting to become a teacher and was also the nexus of a core value that still motivates me every day: that a person’s zip code should never determine the quality of their educational experience.
Another defining moment in my life happened early in my 10th grade year. My mother was determined I would graduate from college, and she came to the school to meet with my counselor. It took her three times before the counselor would see her (that should never happen), but she persisted. When she finally got in to see the counselor, she asked one question, “Is my son enrolled in college preparatory classes?”
The counselor looked at my course schedule and saw that I was not in college bound courses. Unfortunately, at that time McAteer High School operated two academic tracks, one system for college bound students and another system for students who were not perceived as college material. Someone early on, without talking with me or my parents, had determined I was not college bound material and placed me in the non-college bound track.
My mother demanded that be changed. On a Tuesday in October of my sophomore year I was in courses with students who looked like me. The next day, I was in courses with students who looked nothing like me. If my mother had not intervened, there is no doubt my story would be dramatically different.
After graduating from McAteer High School, I earned degrees from City College of San Francisco and San Francisco State and became a teacher, returning to Hunter’s Point where I taught at George Washington Carver Elementary School for five years. This formed another tenet that I live by — who better to uplift a community than the young people who were raised in that community. That is why it is so critical that we work to ensure our students are prepared with the skills that they need to thrive.
George Washington Carver Elementary School was 100 percent African American and 100 percent low income and had a dynamic principal named Louise Jones. She believed three fundamental truths: all kids can learn; all kids want to learn; and we as the adults in the system have the responsibility for making that happen.
Ms. Jones allowed no excuses when it came to educating our students. Neither poverty nor race mattered to her and therefore did not matter to us as teachers. She demanded by her words and actions that our students learn and achieve at the highest levels, and they did. George Washington Carver Elementary students had the highest achievement rate in the entire city.
Ms. Jones convinced me to get my administrative credential and move into administration. Throughout my 36-year career, whether as a teacher, principal or superintendent, I have held firmly to her beliefs.
As I come to the end of my career in public education, I have been fortunate to have conversations with the leaders of Twitter, Salesforce, Google, and other important business leaders. They often talk about the critical workforce skills they need in their employees: critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration.
Our profession is at a critical crossroads. We must close the gap between those who have benefitted from our institution and those who have been marginalized by it. For our students to thrive in the 21st century, educators must aggressively work to ensure every student has those critical skills. I know beyond a shadow of doubt that all our children can learn these skills, all children want to learn these skills, we as adults are responsible for making that happen, and when we do our future is remarkably bright.
As I mentioned earlier, my DNA results have allowed me to know much more about how I got to where I am and to reflect on my ancestors. Learning to read and write was not an option for slaves. In fact, it was against the law, and they might be killed if they were caught learning to read.
I think about what they went through and can imagine them thinking, “One day things will be better. One day this will not always be our plight.” Like my mother, they persevered. I wish they could see that 150 years later their great, great, great, great grandson served the San Jose, Inglewood and San Francisco communities as their superintendent of schools.
As I write these words, I am wearing my favorite sweatshirt which says, “I am my Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams.” My story is the story of America. Despite our faults and challenges, in this country where you start does not always determine where you end up.
Public education is the greatest equalizer ever invented, and more than any other institution that exists, we can help our children achieve their ancestors’ wildest dreams.
Our DNA…It’s Our Superpower
Dr. Vince Matthews recently retired as the superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District and ended his stellar 36-year career in public education. He earned his Associates degree from City College of San Francisco and his Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate from San Francisco State University. He will continue to support public education in his new role as a Strategic Relations Consultant for Huckabee. He may be reached at Vince.Matthews@huckabee-inc.com.
