From Dropout to Doctorate

From Dropout to Doctorate, Terence Lester, PhD. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514011485) 2025.

Summary: A personal memoir underscoring the structural obstacles for Blacks in poverty who aspire to advanced education.

Dr. Terence Lester, his sister and mother fled an abusive husband at age five. At age nine, the Rodney King beating at the hands of police deeply traumatized him. Despite his mother’s efforts, Terence joined gangs, became a juvenile delinquent, experienced homelessness, and then dropped out of school when told his grades weren’t good enough to graduate with his class. At one level, this book is a narrative of how Dr. Lester, over twenty years went from high school dropout to earning five degrees including a doctorate in public policy. During this time, he launched Love Beyond Walls, a Christian ministry among Atlanta’s homeless.

This book is about more than an inspiring narrative. It is also an account of the barriers impoverished Black children face in working their way out of poverty. Lester delineates five components of trauma that undercut even the hope of a better life: historical/systemic oppression, injustice/policy, poverty/social conditions, trauma/barriers, and educational injustices.

First, Lester recounts the history of systemic oppression of Black from slavery to the war on drugs and Rodney King. He describes the pervasive impact of poverty as it impacted his life. For example. he scored ten out of ten on the ACEs scale (Adverse Childhood Experiences). He describes the trauma of showing up at school without pencils and in secondhand clothes. However, when educators who are not trauma-informed approach such children, they miss opportunities for support.

He shows the injustices of educational redlining, in which certain districts in poverty areas have substandard funding and resources. Living in proximity with poverty comes with multiple challenges, which Lester enumerates. All these were contributing factors that led to his dropping out. Through the encouragement of a man at a YMCA, friends of his father, his mother, and a teacher who saw his potential, Lester returned as a fifth year senior, and graduated. Around this time, he attended a Bible study and said “yes” to Christ.

He began attending church while working a demeaning warehouse job to earn funds to go on to college. Then a businessman who saw his emerging gifts talked to him about his future and offered to help pay for college, setting him on the road to earn four more degrees, culminating in his doctorate. In addition to directing Love Beyond Walls, he directs the public policy and social change program at Simmons College. Throughout, he chronicles how important was the support of his Christian community and of educators who create safe spaces for the advancement of Blacks and other people of color.

The book also describes the healing the trauma of the broken relationship with his father beginning with a visit to the ICU when his father had suffered a serious stroke. As they continued to talk, his father described the traumas of his own childhood, illustrating the reality of generational trauma. There were apologies and forgiveness, and then his father decided to be baptized.

This book is more than an inspiring personal story. It is also a call to recognize the systemic challenges impoverished Blacks and others face. Lester shows how Christian community and educational support can be so important. But he also underscores the public policies needed to address educational injustices. Sadly, it appears we have opted to believe the playing field is level and without obstacles. Lester’s story does not support that narrative. Rather, he shows how, despite the barriers and the uneven field, he overcame because of substantial personal, financial, and educational support. His story makes me wonder how many others have aspirations like his but struggle to maintain hope that they, too, might one day achieve the status of “Doctor.”

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.