Right now, there are adults working hard in our community to help kids go through a transformation. When the metamorphosis is complete, those kids will likely dress a little differently, speak less crassly, and maybe even think differently.

And this transformation will also change the goals of the individual children. Some will want it to be permanent while others will just want to be able to put on the new philosophy and then take it off when the mood suits them.

The people guiding them through the changes want these young people to understand that there is another side to life and that to reach it, the young people need to "do as the Romans do."

These are young people whose peers don’t communicate the way the "outside world" does.

Many parrot platitudes they’ve heard from records of performers, stringing together unrelated expressions with the phrase "You know what I’m saying?" I answer, "No I don’t, that’s why I’d like you to tell me."

In that "outside world" that sets policy, hires people and fires people, language can determine how far a person can go and how much success they will have. The exception to this rule are the lucky ones who bypass all this with some extra ordinary gift, be it athletic, physical features, or lyrical dexterity.

And many of our young people seem to share a belief that they will be the "one" or "two" to find extreme success without a formal education or even a basic understanding of communication skills. Armed with these grossly erroneous beliefs, many abandon their efforts to learn how to speak and those who still make an effort to learn are scoffed at and ridiculed. They are told they’re "Trying to be white," "fronting," "profiling" or any number of other put downs issued by what, at times, seems like the majority.

The taunting generally accomplishes its purpose, which seems to be to keep as many people around you as ignorant as possible so the really ignorant people can feel normal.

It amazes me that in this 21st Century culture, people are still running down education and proper English which can either help or hurt one’s ability to get a foothold in the part of society that controls a majority of the opportunities. Then the same misguided philosophers complain about why people seem to be blocked from social, cultural and, more importantly, economic parts of society.

Our kids risk much by bucking the education system.

And then there is the Business Leaders of Tomorrow, or B.L.O.T, on Jamaica Avenue, trying to buck them right back.

B.L.O.T. is just one of a few community-based groups providing a haven for young people who are trying to break away from a anti-education mold. The result of their work isn’t something that the community feels immediately.

Those who go on to college or to trade schools are mostly silent tributes to the work of B.L.O.T.

One of their successes has written a book and will be honored by the group in the spring, but the majority are still works in progress.

Will all the money being donated to this good cause and that, there are still many good causes right here — B.L.O.T., the Million Man March committee of Queens and others – that use their limited resources to help as many kids as they can.