Homeless Schooling

He stands confident, candid, sometimes angry but always soft spoken. Ronald Fields is homeless and he is pursuing a PhD. When asked, “How long have you been homeless?” his reply, “I have been living with the homeless people nine years.”  During this time, Ronald has been constructing innovative, experimental, and controversial proposals addressing criminal justice, AIDS and teenage plight analysis. He knows first hand the need for programs that will do more to help those in society that society has placed at its lowest levels.  Ronald grew up in violent neighborhoods starting with Cherry Hill an area so bad that cab divers refused to transport customers there. His own household was headed by a “psychological imbalanced stepfather,” which acquired this illness from the Viet Nam War. Ronald was part of an experimental busing program where he saw racism first hand on signs stating, “Nigger Go Home!” These social ills made an impact on his life. He studied political science at Morgan University and criminal justice at the University of Baltimore.

Ronald worked within the system with his newly acquired credentials. He even lived on campus sharing the facilities with the homeless while implementing programs to ameliorate their circumstances.  The other staff members viewed him as a dedicated and compassionate employee who had a calling for this work.

Ronald’s life presently as a homeless person can be viewed by some as a person who has fallen though the cracks of society himself or viewed by others as a person working from the inside out. However he is viewed, his goal is submitting an application to a University of Baltimore’s PhD Program.