The Young Apprentice

A Simple Strategy

The Yarboros make a good living. Kim is a systems engineer for the Marine Corps, Mark a contracting specialist for the Army. Together, their salaries approach $200,000 a year.

They move freely between neighborhoods and jobs. When the public schools didn't suit Marcus, his mother found a private one that did. They've read the research showing that black children -- especially boys, no matter their family income -- receive less attention, harsher punishment and lower marks in school than their white counterparts, from kindergarten through college. The Yale University Child Study Center, for instance, found in a national survey last year that black boys are expelled at three times the rate of white children -- in pre-kindergarten.

The Yarboros' strategy to overcome those odds is simple: Expose Marcus to everything. That means black history, apple picking, Spanish, professional hockey, horseback riding and, yes, laser tag.

Yet, they know that the cocoon of comfort they have wrapped Marcus in is not airtight.

In the fall, he will transfer schools to start fourth grade, a pivotal academic year when many boys, but especially black ones, start to spiral downward.

And there is his parents' separation, the possibility of divorce always playing like a musical bass line in their lives. Either circumstance could send a kid into a tailspin.

Marcus's life plays out on a quiet cul-de-sac in Stafford, a mostly white suburban enclave about 45 miles south of Washington.

He has a round, dark-brown face and a quick wit. He's obsessed with video games and turtles, which have, according to Marcus, "an excellent defense system." He has good friends, a mountain of toys and, thanks to his mother's meticulous planning, a calendar that won't quit.

There's the church choir, basketball, guitar practice, a quarterly book club that Kim co-founded. Between the book club and school, he's read hundreds of books, about Captain Underpants, Walter the Farting Dog, magic trees and crocodiles.

This year, there's also been a youth financial planning seminar, the Little Miss Crimson and Cream Ball that required a tuxedo, and an etiquette workshop for boys that his mom organized at their home and then got Mark and other fathers to lead.

The kitchen is always stocked with Marcus's favorite foods, and his friends rave about the "10 o'clock" snack they're assured before bed when they sleep over.