Pastor and Project H.O.O.D. founder Corey Brooks calls out the test scores in this public high school in Washington D.C., saying America needs to 'pair choice with values in all aspects of society.'

"Pastor, have you ever read Thomas Sowell on this high school?" Elaine asked me as we stood outside Paul Laurence Dunbar High School — or Dunbar, for short — in Northwest Washington, D.C. I told her that was why I made a point of making Dunbar a stop on my Walk Across America to revive merit and the American Dream. I had asked her, a mother of two kids in the school, what it was like, and her verdict was sadly negative. "Sowell said Dunbar was an example of excellence back in the day. What happened?"

From 1870 to 1955, this all-Black public school drew ambitious families from across the country — parents relocating just to enroll their kids for the best shot at life. Sowell described these families as "aspirational," meaning they sought to overcome any obstacles. They were a determined people, and such people cannot be stopped. The classrooms were full, sometimes overcrowded, but the results did not lie. Dunbar graduates outscored white schools on exams, and nearly all went on to college — some to the Ivy League.

Economist, social theorist and bestselling author Thomas Sowell. (Fox News)

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