Renaissance Institute of Scholastic Excellence, Inc

The Renaissance Institute was founded by me, grandmaster teacher John C. Forbes, in 1987.  I founded RISE because I recognized that the education of black children was, and still is, woefully inadequate.  In fact, our children are less knowledgeable, less well prepared and, unfortunately, less intelligent than kids were just twenty years ago; however, a small percentage of our kids are brighter than our kids have ever been and these kids are the kind of kids who are prepared by me. Today's reality is that all of our children live in a world that will demand more brain power, knowledge and know-how from them than ever before.  Preparing our kids to meet and exceed the demands of the modern world is the core mission of my program.

Our Business

To prepare our kids to be ready to assume their position as leaders, movers and shakers on the global stage--just like Obama's mother helped to prepare him to reach his position as the, arguably, most powerful man, black or white, on the planet.

Who We Are May Best Be Summed Up By The Following Quotations:

Teddy Roosevelt once said: "What we have a right to expect of the American boy is that he shall turn out to be a good American man…  "The best boys I know, the best men I know are good at their studies or their business, fearless and stalwart, hated and feared by all that is wicked and depraved, incapable of submitting to wrongdoing, and equally incapable of being [anything other than] tender to the weak and helpless”.

Frederick Douglass once said: “A man without force is without the essential dignity of humanity.  Human nature is so constituted that it cannot honor a helpless man, though it can pity him.  [However], even this it cannot do for long if signs of power do not soon arise”. 

Renaissance boys will become men of honor, dignity, force and power.

Aubrey Andelin once said: "A failure in the home  is a man's greatest failure. If he fails in marriage, if he fails with his children, if his home is troubled or divided or if his children are unruly, wayward and irresponsible, he has failed in his most fundamental duty as a man. 

No success in life can compensate for this failure.  He may accomplish great things in the world of men.  He may be a man of science, industry or government, with notable achievements, but what can atone for a failure in the home?  [A man] is principally responsible for its success or failure.

From The Founder:

As A Man I am a long seeing eye witness to the failure and breakdown of the African American family over the last 40 years. It will take, in my view, men who yoke themselves to good women and the worthy cause, needed to reverse the deadly trend of family disintegration rampaging throughout our communities. RISE is my battle plan toward that effort. 

May every man, who is a man, pick up his sword and shield and wade into the fray and slay every dragon eating our children alive.

John C. Forbes