How America's public schools keep kids in poverty | Kandice Sumner | TEDxBeaconStreet
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0:17 - 0:19I want to talk to you about my kids.
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0:19 - 0:24Now, I know everyone thinks
that their kid is the most fantastic, -
0:24 - 0:26the most beautiful kid that ever lived.
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0:27 - 0:28But mine really are.
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0:28 - 0:30(Laughter)
-
0:30 - 0:32I have 696 kids,
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0:32 - 0:37and they are the most intelligent,
inventive, innovative, -
0:37 - 0:40brilliant and powerful kids
that you'll ever meet. -
0:41 - 0:46Any student I've had the honor of teaching
in my classroom is my kid. -
0:46 - 0:50However, because their "real"
parents aren't rich -
0:50 - 0:53and, I argue, because they
are mostly of color, -
0:53 - 0:56they will seldom get to see in themselves
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0:56 - 0:58the awesomeness that I see in them.
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0:59 - 1:01Because what I see in them is myself --
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1:02 - 1:04or what would have been myself.
-
1:05 - 1:08I am the daughter of two hardworking,
-
1:08 - 1:10college-educated, African-American parents
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1:10 - 1:13who chose careers as public servants:
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1:13 - 1:17my father, a minister;
my mother, an educator. -
1:17 - 1:20Wealth was never the primary
ambition in our house. -
1:21 - 1:22Because of this lack of wealth,
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1:22 - 1:25we lived in a neighborhood
that lacked wealth, -
1:25 - 1:28and henceforth a school system
that lacked wealth. -
1:28 - 1:32Luckily, however, we struck
the educational jackpot -
1:32 - 1:34in a voluntary desegregation program
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1:34 - 1:38that buses inner-city kids --
black and brown -- -
1:38 - 1:40out to suburban schools -- rich and white.
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1:41 - 1:45At five years old, I had to take
an hour-long bus ride -
1:45 - 1:47to a faraway place
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1:47 - 1:49to get a better education.
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1:49 - 1:54At five years old, I thought
everyone had a life just like mine. -
1:54 - 1:56I thought everyone went to school
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1:56 - 1:59and were the only ones
using the brown crayons -
1:59 - 2:00to color in their family portraits,
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2:00 - 2:04while everyone else was using
the peach-colored ones. -
2:04 - 2:08At five years old, I thought
everyone was just like me. -
2:08 - 2:12But as I got older, I started
noticing things, like: -
2:13 - 2:15How come my neighborhood friend
don't have to wake up -
2:15 - 2:17at five o'clock in the morning,
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2:17 - 2:19and go to a school that's an hour away?
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2:20 - 2:22How come I'm learning to play the violin
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2:22 - 2:26while my neighborhood friends
don't even have a music class? -
2:27 - 2:30Why were my neighborhood friends
learning and reading material -
2:30 - 2:33that I had done two to three years prior?
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2:34 - 2:36See, as I got older,
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2:36 - 2:40I started to have
this unlawful feeling in my belly, -
2:40 - 2:44like I was doing something
that I wasn't supposed to be doing; -
2:44 - 2:47taking something that wasn't mine;
-
2:48 - 2:49receiving a gift,
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2:49 - 2:51but with someone else's name on it.
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2:52 - 2:55All these amazing things
that I was being exposed to -
2:55 - 2:57and experiencing,
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2:57 - 3:00I felt I wasn't really supposed to have.
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3:01 - 3:05I wasn't supposed to have a library,
fully equipped athletic facilities, -
3:05 - 3:07or safe fields to play in.
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3:08 - 3:10I wasn't supposed to have
theatre departments -
3:10 - 3:13with seasonal plays and concerts --
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3:13 - 3:15digital, visual, performing arts.
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3:15 - 3:20I wasn't supposed to have
fully resourced biology or chemistry labs, -
3:20 - 3:23school buses that brought me door-to-door,
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3:23 - 3:25freshly prepared school lunches
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3:25 - 3:27or even air conditioning.
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3:28 - 3:30These are things my kids don't get.
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3:30 - 3:32You see, as I got older,
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3:32 - 3:35while I was grateful
for this amazing opportunity -
3:35 - 3:37that I was being given,
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3:37 - 3:39there was this ever-present pang of:
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3:40 - 3:42But what about everyone else?
-
3:43 - 3:46There are thousands
of other kids just like me, -
3:46 - 3:48who deserve this, too.
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3:48 - 3:50Why doesn't everyone get this?
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3:50 - 3:54Why is a high-quality education
only exclusive to the rich? -
3:55 - 3:59It was like I had some sort
of survivor's remorse. -
3:59 - 4:02All of my neighborhood friends
were experiencing -
4:02 - 4:04an educational train wreck
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4:04 - 4:07that I was saved from through a bus ride.
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4:08 - 4:10I was like an educational Moses screaming,
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4:10 - 4:12"Let my people go ...
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4:12 - 4:14to high-quality schools!"
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4:14 - 4:15(Laughter)
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4:15 - 4:20I'd seen firsthand how the other half
was being treated and educated. -
4:20 - 4:23I'd seen the educational promised land,
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4:23 - 4:27and I could not for the life of me
justify the disparity. -
4:29 - 4:34I now teach in the very same school system
from which I sought refuge. -
4:35 - 4:39I know firsthand the tools
that were given to me as a student, -
4:39 - 4:43and now as a teacher, I don't have
access to those same tools -
4:43 - 4:45to give my students.
-
4:45 - 4:50There have been countless nights
when I've cried in frustration, -
4:50 - 4:51anger
-
4:51 - 4:52and sorrow,
-
4:52 - 4:56because I can't teach my kids
the way that I was taught, -
4:56 - 5:00because I don't have access
to the same resources or tools -
5:00 - 5:02that were used to teach me.
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5:03 - 5:05My kids deserve so much better.
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5:06 - 5:09We sit and we keep banging
our heads against this term: -
5:09 - 5:11"Achievement gap, achievement gap!"
-
5:12 - 5:15Is it really that hard to understand
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5:15 - 5:18why these kids perform well
and these kids don't? -
5:18 - 5:20I mean, really.
-
5:20 - 5:23I think we've got it all wrong.
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5:23 - 5:24I think we,
-
5:24 - 5:26as Gloria Ladson-Billings says,
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5:26 - 5:31should flip our paradigm and our language
and call it was it really is. -
5:31 - 5:33It's not an achievement gap;
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5:34 - 5:36it's an education debt,
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5:36 - 5:41for all of the foregone schooling
resources that were never invested -
5:41 - 5:45in the education of the black
and brown child over time. -
5:47 - 5:50A little-known secret in American history
-
5:50 - 5:55is that the only American institution
created specifically for people of color -
5:55 - 5:57is the American slave trade --
-
5:58 - 6:00and some would argue the prison system,
-
6:00 - 6:02but that's another topic
for another TED Talk. -
6:02 - 6:03(Laughter)
-
6:03 - 6:08The public school system of this country
was built, bought and paid for -
6:08 - 6:12using commerce generated
from the slave trade and slave labor. -
6:12 - 6:16While African-Americans were enslaved
and prohibited from schooling, -
6:16 - 6:19their labor established
the very institution -
6:20 - 6:21from which they were excluded.
-
6:22 - 6:27Ever since then, every court case,
educational policy, reform, -
6:27 - 6:30has been an attempt
to retrofit the design, -
6:30 - 6:33rather than just stopping
and acknowledging: -
6:33 - 6:35we've had it all wrong from the beginning.
-
6:37 - 6:41An oversimplification
of American educational history. -
6:41 - 6:43All right, just bear with me.
-
6:44 - 6:47Blacks were kept out -- you know,
the whole slavery thing. -
6:47 - 6:49With the help
of philanthropic white people, -
6:49 - 6:51they built their own schools.
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6:51 - 6:53Separate but equal was OK.
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6:54 - 6:57But while we all know
things were indeed separate, -
6:57 - 6:58they were in no ways equal.
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6:59 - 7:04Enter Brown v. the Board of Education
of Topeka, Kansas in 1954; -
7:04 - 7:07legal separation of the races
is now illegal. -
7:08 - 7:14But very few people pay attention
to all of the court cases since then, -
7:14 - 7:19that have undone the educational
promised land for every child -
7:19 - 7:22that Brown v. Board intended.
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7:22 - 7:26Some argue that today our schools
are now more segregated -
7:26 - 7:31than they ever were before we tried
to desegregate them in the first place. -
7:32 - 7:35Teaching my kids about desegregation,
the Little Rock Nine, -
7:35 - 7:37the Civil Rights Movement,
-
7:37 - 7:40is a real awkward moment in my classroom,
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7:40 - 7:43when I have to hear
the voice of a child ask, -
7:44 - 7:47"If schools were desegregated in 1954,
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7:47 - 7:49how come there are no white kids here?"
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7:49 - 7:51(Laughter)
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7:51 - 7:52These kids aren't dumb.
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7:53 - 7:55They know exactly what's happening,
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7:55 - 7:57and what's not.
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7:57 - 7:59They know that when it comes to schooling,
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8:00 - 8:02black lives don't matter
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8:03 - 8:04and they never have.
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8:06 - 8:13For years, I tried desperately
to cultivate in my kids a love of reading. -
8:13 - 8:16I'd amassed a modest classroom library
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8:16 - 8:19of books I'd accumulated
from secondhand shops, -
8:19 - 8:22thrift stores, attics -- you know.
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8:22 - 8:24But whenever I said those dreadful words,
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8:24 - 8:26"Take out a book and read,"
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8:27 - 8:29you'd think I'd just declared war.
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8:29 - 8:31It was torture.
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8:31 - 8:33One day,
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8:33 - 8:36after I'd heard about this website
called DonorsChoose, -
8:36 - 8:38where classroom teachers create wish lists
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8:38 - 8:40of items they need for their classroom
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8:41 - 8:43and anonymous donors fulfill them,
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8:43 - 8:47I figured I'd go out on a limb
and just make a wish list -
8:47 - 8:50of the teenager's dream library.
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8:51 - 8:56Over 200 brand-new books
were sent to my room piece by piece. -
8:56 - 9:01Every day there were new deliveries
and my kids would exclaim with glee, -
9:01 - 9:03"This feels like Christmas!"
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9:03 - 9:04(Laughter)
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9:04 - 9:05Then they'd say,
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9:05 - 9:08"Ms. Sumner, where did
these books come from?" -
9:08 - 9:09And then I'd reply,
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9:09 - 9:13"Strangers from all over the country
wanted you to have these." -
9:14 - 9:17And then they'd say, almost suspiciously,
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9:18 - 9:20"But they're brand-new."
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9:20 - 9:21(Laughter)
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9:21 - 9:23To which I'd reply,
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9:23 - 9:24"You deserve brand-new books."
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9:26 - 9:29The whole experience hit home
for me when one of my girls, -
9:29 - 9:32as she peeled open a crisp paperback said,
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9:33 - 9:38"Ms. Sumner -- you know,
I figured you bought these books, -
9:38 - 9:40'cause you teachers
are always buying us stuff. -
9:41 - 9:45But to know that a stranger,
someone I don't even know, -
9:45 - 9:47cares this much about me
-
9:47 - 9:49is pretty cool."
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9:50 - 9:52Knowing that strangers
will take care of you -
9:52 - 9:54is a privilege my kids aren't afforded.
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9:56 - 9:57Ever since the donation,
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9:58 - 10:01there has been a steady stream of kids
signing out books to take home, -
10:01 - 10:04and then returning them
with the exclamation, -
10:04 - 10:06"This one was good!"
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10:06 - 10:07(Laughter)
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10:07 - 10:09Now when I say,
"Take out a book and read," -
10:09 - 10:11kids rush to my library.
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10:13 - 10:15It wasn't that they didn't want to read,
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10:15 - 10:19but instead, they'd gladly read
if the resources were there. -
10:21 - 10:23Institutionally speaking,
-
10:23 - 10:27our public school system has never
done right by the black and brown child. -
10:28 - 10:30We keep focusing on the end results
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10:30 - 10:32or test results,
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10:32 - 10:34and getting frustrated.
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10:34 - 10:36We get to a catastrophe and we wonder,
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10:36 - 10:39"How did it get so bad?
How did we get here?" -
10:40 - 10:41Really?
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10:41 - 10:43If you neglect a child long enough,
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10:43 - 10:46you no longer have
the right to be surprised -
10:46 - 10:48when things don't turn out well.
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10:49 - 10:51Stop being perplexed
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10:51 - 10:52or confused
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10:52 - 10:54or befuddled
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10:54 - 10:56by the achievement gap,
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10:56 - 10:58the income gap,
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10:58 - 10:59the incarceration rates,
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10:59 - 11:04or whatever socioeconomic disparity
is the new "it" term for the moment. -
11:05 - 11:07The problems we have as a country
-
11:07 - 11:09are the problems we created as a country.
-
11:10 - 11:14The quality of your education
is directly proportionate -
11:14 - 11:16to your access to college,
-
11:16 - 11:18your access to jobs,
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11:18 - 11:19your access to the future.
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11:21 - 11:27Until we live in a world where every kid
can get a high-quality education -
11:27 - 11:28no matter where they live,
-
11:28 - 11:30or the color of their skin,
-
11:30 - 11:34there are things we can do
on a macro level. -
11:35 - 11:39School funding should not
be decided by property taxes -
11:39 - 11:41or some funky economic equation
-
11:41 - 11:44where rich kids continue
to benefit from state aid, -
11:44 - 11:48while poor kids are continuously
having food and resources -
11:48 - 11:50taken from their mouths.
-
11:50 - 11:54Governors, senators, mayors,
city council members -- -
11:54 - 11:57if we're going to call
public education public education, -
11:57 - 11:59then it should be just that.
-
11:59 - 12:02Otherwise, we should
call it what it really is: -
12:02 - 12:04poverty insurance.
-
12:05 - 12:06"Public education:
-
12:06 - 12:09keeping poor kids poor since 1954."
-
12:09 - 12:11(Laughter)
-
12:12 - 12:18If we really, as a country, believe
that education is the "great equalizer," -
12:18 - 12:21then it should be just that:
equal and equitable. -
12:22 - 12:26Until then, there's no democracy
in our democratic education. -
12:27 - 12:29On a mezzo level:
-
12:29 - 12:33historically speaking, the education
of a black and brown child -
12:33 - 12:36has always depended
on the philanthropy of others. -
12:36 - 12:39And unfortunately, today it still does.
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12:39 - 12:44If your son or daughter or niece
or nephew or neighbor -
12:44 - 12:45or little Timmy down the street
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12:46 - 12:48goes to an affluent school,
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12:48 - 12:51challenge your school committee
to adopt an impoverished school -
12:51 - 12:54or an impoverished classroom.
-
12:54 - 12:57Close the divide by engaging
in communication -
12:57 - 12:59and relationships that matter.
-
13:00 - 13:02When resources are shared,
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13:02 - 13:03they're not divided;
-
13:03 - 13:05they're multiplied.
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13:06 - 13:07And on a micro level:
-
13:07 - 13:09if you're a human being,
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13:10 - 13:11donate.
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13:11 - 13:15Time, money, resources, opportunities --
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13:15 - 13:18whatever is in your heart.
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13:19 - 13:21There are websites like DonorsChoose
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13:21 - 13:23that recognize the disparity
-
13:23 - 13:25and actually want
to do something about it. -
13:27 - 13:30What is a carpenter with no tools?
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13:30 - 13:32What is an actress with no stage?
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13:33 - 13:35What is a scientist with no laboratory?
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13:36 - 13:38What is a doctor with no tools?
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13:40 - 13:41Or equipment?
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13:42 - 13:43I'll tell you:
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13:44 - 13:45they're my kids.
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13:46 - 13:48Shouldn't they be your kids, too?
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13:48 - 13:50Thank you.
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13:50 - 13:52(Applause)
- Title:
- How America's public schools keep kids in poverty | Kandice Sumner | TEDxBeaconStreet
- Description:
-
Why should a good education be exclusive to rich kids? Schools in low-income neighborhoods across the US, specifically in communities of color, lack the resources that are standard at wealthier schools -- things like musical instruments, new books, healthy school lunches and soccer fields -- and this has a real impact on the potential of students. Kandice Sumner sees the disparity every day in her classroom in Boston. In this inspiring talk, she asks us to face facts -- and change them.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 14:04
Helene Batt edited English subtitles for How America's public schools keep kids in poverty | Kandice Sumner | TEDxBeaconStreet | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for How America's public schools keep kids in poverty | Kandice Sumner | TEDxBeaconStreet | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for How America's public schools keep kids in poverty | Kandice Sumner | TEDxBeaconStreet |