Education in America: Don't Fail Me

I had the opportunity last week to attend the Spelman College Legacy of Leadership Awards Dinner where Soledad O'Brien served as keynote speaker. Her speech was much about resetting the way that we think about education, how it is delivered, how it can be change and how we, ordinary folk can do ordinary things to touch a young persons life and as a result have our on lives touched in return. She also gave us a sneak peak of her latest "in America" series, Education in America - Don't Fail Me. After watching the promo I knew that I had to see this one.

My sisters and step mother are educators. Serving as teachers, tutors and professors at the middle school, high school and at the collegiate level they have seen it all. Children, young adults who are not engaged, school closures, funding issues, curriculum changes and the much touted "lack of parent involvement." What I've heard from them over the years is all appalling. What I saw on tv last night on Don't Fail Me only drove the point home (at least for me) that we can't just leave it up to the school systems to get it right. The disparities in opportunity were glaringly obvious.

The young lady, in Arizona was in majority Latino school in which she had to personally lobby for a pre-calculus class. Her parents, both immigrants had limited income and education and provided limited support. The young man from Tennessee had dreams of going to Stanford but his high school did not have a rigorous enough curriculum for him to be accepted into Yale, yet he did have great support from his mom, a widower. The young man in Pennsylvania had the benefit of honors and advanced placement classes, upper middle class upbringing and a wealth of support from his family. All three were served as team leads for a national robotics competition. What was most striking to me is how the the kids from the Latino school, one which had the least amount of resources, ended up going furthest in the competition. What's even more striking is that for minority youth, opportunities and results (the Arizona team made it out of their region, their two counterparts didn't) as these so rarely occur. I also want to point out that the young man in Pennsylvania's parents made statements about their son to the effect that he was doing what every young person his age was doing, until O'Brien politely checked them on their assumption, nothing that the opportunities he had are not available to all the young people they were referring to.

The bottom line from this documentary is that our children, our educational system and eventually our technology sector are all in perilous condition. I believe that we knew that. We have also seen examples of changes that are being made on small scale/local level that make a difference in the education and in the very lives of our youth. My question is what can we do to replicate programs that work, get rid of programs and teachers that don't and improve the educational achievement of our youth. What can I do? What can you do? I welcome your ideas.

The next airing of Education in America - Don't Fail Me is May 21 on CNN.