0:00:00.500,0:00:04.434
My first job out of college[br]was as an academic researcher

0:00:04.458,0:00:08.809
at one of the largest juvenile[br]detention centers in the country.

0:00:08.833,0:00:10.934
And every day I would drive[br]to this building

0:00:10.958,0:00:12.393
on the West Side of Chicago,

0:00:12.417,0:00:14.226
go through the security checkpoint

0:00:14.250,0:00:19.226
and walk down these brown, brick hallways[br]as I made my way down to the basement

0:00:19.250,0:00:21.768
to observe the intake process.

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The kids coming in[br]were about 10 to 16 years old,

0:00:25.042,0:00:27.143
usually always black and brown,

0:00:27.167,0:00:31.601
most likely from the same impoverished[br]South and West Sides of Chicago.

0:00:31.625,0:00:34.684
They should've been[br]in fifth to tenth grade,

0:00:34.708,0:00:37.143
but instead they were here[br]for weeks on end

0:00:37.167,0:00:39.934
awaiting trial for various crimes.

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Some of them came back to the facility[br]14 times before their 15th birthday.

0:00:45.375,0:00:48.476
And as I sat there on the other side[br]of the glass from them,

0:00:48.500,0:00:51.059
idealistic with a college degree,

0:00:51.083,0:00:52.768
I wondered to myself:

0:00:52.792,0:00:57.000
Why didn't schools do something more[br]to prevent this from happening?

0:00:58.042,0:00:59.768
It's been about 10 years since then,

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and I still think about how some kids[br]get tracked towards college

0:01:03.042,0:01:05.768
and others towards detention,

0:01:05.792,0:01:10.184
but I no longer think about schools'[br]abilities to solve these things.

0:01:10.208,0:01:13.768
You see, I've learned that so much[br]of this problem is systemic

0:01:13.792,0:01:18.851
that often our school system[br]perpetuates the social divide.

0:01:18.875,0:01:22.101
It makes worse what it's supposed to fix.

0:01:22.125,0:01:23.893
That's as crazy or controversial

0:01:23.917,0:01:26.559
as saying that our health care system[br]isn't preventative

0:01:26.583,0:01:29.559
but somehow profits[br]off of keeping us sick ...

0:01:29.583,0:01:30.851
oops.

0:01:30.875,0:01:31.893
(Laughter)

0:01:31.917,0:01:34.768
I truly do believe though[br]that kids can achieve great things

0:01:34.792,0:01:36.268
despite the odds against them,

0:01:36.292,0:01:39.268
and in fact, my own research shows that.

0:01:39.292,0:01:43.184
But if we're serious about helping[br]more kids from across the board

0:01:43.208,0:01:46.143
to achieve and make it in this world,

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we're going to have to realize[br]that our gaps in student outcomes

0:01:49.292,0:01:54.000
are not so much about achievement[br]as much as they are about opportunity.

0:01:54.667,0:01:57.351
A 2019 EdBuild report showed

0:01:57.375,0:02:01.893
that majority-white districts[br]receive about 23 billion dollars more

0:02:01.917,0:02:04.518
in annual funding than nonwhite districts,

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even though they serve[br]about the same number of students.

0:02:07.542,0:02:10.643
Lower resource schools are dealing[br]with lower quality equipment,

0:02:10.667,0:02:12.143
obsolete technology

0:02:12.167,0:02:14.018
and paying teachers way less.

0:02:14.042,0:02:15.559
Here in New York,

0:02:15.583,0:02:17.809
those are also the schools[br]most likely to serve

0:02:17.833,0:02:20.309
the one in 10 elementary school students

0:02:20.333,0:02:23.833
who will most likely have to sleep[br]in a homeless shelter tonight.

0:02:24.542,0:02:28.393
The student, parent and teacher[br]are dealing with a lot.

0:02:28.417,0:02:32.518
Sometimes places are misplacing[br]the blame back on them.

0:02:32.542,0:02:35.934
In Atlanta, we saw that teachers[br]felt desperate enough

0:02:35.958,0:02:39.518
to have to help their students[br]cheat on standardized tests

0:02:39.542,0:02:41.351
that would impact their funding.

0:02:41.375,0:02:44.226
Eight of them went[br]to jail for that in 2015

0:02:44.250,0:02:47.809
with some sentences as high as 20 years,

0:02:47.833,0:02:51.250
which is more than what many states[br]give for second-degree murder.

0:02:52.375,0:02:55.059
The thing is though, in places like Tulsa,

0:02:55.083,0:02:57.059
teachers' pay has been so bad

0:02:57.083,0:02:59.393
that these people have had[br]to go to food pantries

0:02:59.417,0:03:02.351
or soup kitchens just to feed themselves.

0:03:02.375,0:03:07.268
The same system will criminalize a parent[br]who will use a relative's address

0:03:07.292,0:03:10.184
to send their child to a better school,

0:03:10.208,0:03:13.143
but for who knows how long[br]authorities have turned a blind eye

0:03:13.167,0:03:15.059
to those who can bribe their way

0:03:15.083,0:03:18.750
onto the most elite and beautiful[br]college campuses.

0:03:19.792,0:03:22.434
And a lot of this feels[br]pretty heavy to be saying --

0:03:22.458,0:03:24.226
and maybe to be hearing --

0:03:24.250,0:03:28.976
and since there's nothing quite like[br]economics talk to lighten the mood --

0:03:29.000,0:03:30.726
that's right, right?

0:03:30.750,0:03:32.643
Let me tell you about some of the costs

0:03:32.667,0:03:35.684
when we fail to tap[br]into our students' potential.

0:03:35.708,0:03:38.643
A McKinsey study showed that if in 1998

0:03:38.667,0:03:41.893
we could've closed our long-standing[br]student achievement gaps

0:03:41.917,0:03:44.184
between students[br]of different ethnic backgrounds

0:03:44.208,0:03:46.768
or students of different income levels,

0:03:46.792,0:03:49.518
by 2008, our GDP --

0:03:49.542,0:03:51.351
our untapped economic gains --

0:03:51.375,0:03:54.893
could have gone up[br]by more than 500 billion dollars.

0:03:54.917,0:03:57.434
Those same gaps in 2008,

0:03:57.458,0:04:01.643
between our students here in the US[br]and those across the world,

0:04:01.667,0:04:03.309
may have deprived our economy

0:04:03.333,0:04:08.417
of up to 2.3 trillion dollars[br]of economic output.

0:04:09.375,0:04:11.976
But beyond economics, numbers and figures,

0:04:12.000,0:04:14.601
I think there's a simpler reason[br]that this matters,

0:04:14.625,0:04:17.434
a simpler reason for fixing our system.

0:04:17.458,0:04:19.601
It's that in a true democracy,

0:04:19.625,0:04:21.726
like the one we pride[br]ourselves on having --

0:04:21.750,0:04:24.393
and sometimes rightfully so --

0:04:24.417,0:04:26.518
a child's future[br]should not be predetermined

0:04:26.542,0:04:28.684
by the circumstances of their birth.

0:04:28.708,0:04:34.934
A public education system should not[br]create a wider bottom and more narrow top.

0:04:34.958,0:04:36.476
Some of us can sometimes think

0:04:36.500,0:04:38.976
that these things[br]aren't that close to home,

0:04:39.000,0:04:41.268
but they are if we broaden our view,

0:04:41.292,0:04:44.018
because a leaky faucet in our kitchen,

0:04:44.042,0:04:46.559
broken radiator in our hallway,

0:04:46.583,0:04:50.476
those parts of the house that we always[br]say we're going to get to next week,

0:04:50.500,0:04:52.542
they're devaluing our whole property.

0:04:53.250,0:04:57.934
Instead of constantly looking away[br]to solutions like privatization

0:04:57.958,0:05:00.934
or the charter school movement[br]to solve our problems,

0:05:00.958,0:05:03.643
why don't we take a deeper look[br]at public education,

0:05:03.667,0:05:05.684
try to take more pride in it

0:05:05.708,0:05:10.143
and maybe use it to solve[br]some of our social problems.

0:05:10.167,0:05:14.393
Why don't we try to reclaim[br]the promise of public education

0:05:14.417,0:05:18.042
and remember that it's[br]our greatest collective responsibility?

0:05:18.917,0:05:22.393
Luckily some of our communities[br]are doing just that.

0:05:22.417,0:05:27.393
The huge teacher strikes[br]in the spring of 2019 in Denver and LA --

0:05:27.417,0:05:30.518
they were successful[br]because of community support

0:05:30.542,0:05:32.601
for things like smaller class sizes

0:05:32.625,0:05:35.643
and getting things into schools[br]like more counselors

0:05:35.667,0:05:37.768
in addition to teacher pay.

0:05:37.792,0:05:39.684
And sometimes for the student,

0:05:39.708,0:05:43.809
innovation is just daring[br]to implement common sense.

0:05:43.833,0:05:45.268
In Baltimore a few years ago,

0:05:45.292,0:05:48.101
they enacted a free breakfast[br]and lunch program,

0:05:48.125,0:05:50.393
taking away the stigma[br]of poverty and hunger

0:05:50.417,0:05:51.934
for some students

0:05:51.958,0:05:56.018
but increasing achievement[br]in attendance for many others.

0:05:56.042,0:05:57.309
And in Memphis,

0:05:57.333,0:06:00.726
the university is recruiting[br]local, passionate high school students

0:06:00.750,0:06:04.018
and giving them scholarships[br]to go teach in the inner city

0:06:04.042,0:06:06.893
without the burden of college debt.

0:06:06.917,0:06:08.434
And north of here in The Bronx,

0:06:08.458,0:06:10.934
I recently researched[br]these partnerships being built

0:06:10.958,0:06:14.226
between high schools,[br]community colleges and local businesses

0:06:14.250,0:06:18.643
who are creating internships[br]in finance, health care and technology

0:06:18.667,0:06:21.518
for students without[br]"silver spoon" connections

0:06:21.542,0:06:23.476
to gain important skills

0:06:23.500,0:06:26.125
and contribute to the communities[br]that they come from.

0:06:27.500,0:06:31.518
So today I don't necessarily have[br]the same questions about education

0:06:31.542,0:06:35.893
that I did when I was an idealistic,[br]perhaps naïve college grad

0:06:35.917,0:06:38.351
working in a detention center basement.

0:06:38.375,0:06:42.268
It's not: Can schools[br]save more of our students?

0:06:42.292,0:06:44.501
Because I think[br]we have the answer to that --

0:06:44.535,0:06:48.726
and it's yes they can,[br]if we save our schools first.

0:06:48.750,0:06:52.375
We can start by caring about the education[br]of other people's children ...

0:06:53.750,0:06:56.476
And I'm saying that[br]as someone who doesn't have kids yet

0:06:56.500,0:06:59.792
but wants to worry a little bit less[br]about the future when I do.

0:07:01.000,0:07:03.476
Cultivating as much talent as possible,

0:07:03.500,0:07:06.351
getting as many girls[br]as we can from all over

0:07:06.375,0:07:08.393
into science and engineering,

0:07:08.417,0:07:12.184
as many boys as we can[br]into teaching --

0:07:12.208,0:07:15.351
those are investments for our future.

0:07:15.375,0:07:18.809
Our students are like[br]our most valuable resource,

0:07:18.833,0:07:20.601
and when you put it that way,

0:07:20.625,0:07:24.059
our teachers are like our modern-day[br]diamond and gold miners,

0:07:24.083,0:07:26.309
hoping to help make them shine.

0:07:26.333,0:07:28.309
Let's contribute our voices,

0:07:28.333,0:07:30.768
our votes and our support

0:07:30.792,0:07:33.434
to giving them the resources[br]that they will need

0:07:33.458,0:07:35.643
not just to survive

0:07:35.667,0:07:37.143
but hopefully thrive,

0:07:37.167,0:07:40.226
allowing all of us to do so as well.

0:07:40.250,0:07:41.518
Thank you.

0:07:41.542,0:07:44.833
(Applause and cheers)