0:00:00.825,0:00:04.672
My first job out of college[br]was as an academic researcher

0:00:04.672,0:00:08.440
at one of the largest juvenile[br]detention centers in the country.

0:00:09.024,0:00:10.513
And every day I would drive[br]to this building

0:00:10.513,0:00:12.178
on the West Side of Chicago,

0:00:12.178,0:00:14.427
go through the security checkpoint

0:00:14.427,0:00:19.419
and walk down these brown, brick hallways[br]as I made my way down to the basement

0:00:19.419,0:00:21.352
to observe the intake process.

0:00:21.947,0:00:25.289
The kids coming in were[br]about 10 to 16 years old,

0:00:25.289,0:00:27.430
usually always black and brown,

0:00:27.430,0:00:31.193
most likely from the same impoverished[br]South and West Sides of Chicago.

0:00:31.761,0:00:34.942
They should've been[br]in fifth to 10th grade,

0:00:34.942,0:00:37.374
but instead they were here[br]for weeks on end

0:00:37.374,0:00:39.508
waiting trial for various crimes.

0:00:40.146,0:00:44.602
Some of them came back to the facility[br]14 times before their 15th birthday.

0:00:45.668,0:00:48.789
And as I sat there on the other side[br]of the glass from them,

0:00:48.789,0:00:51.291
idealistic with a college degree,

0:00:51.291,0:00:52.796
I wondered to myself,

0:00:52.796,0:00:56.998
why didn't schools do something more[br]to prevent this from happening?

0:00:58.324,0:00:59.817
It's been about 10 years since then;

0:00:59.817,0:01:03.278
I still think about how some kids[br]get tracked towards college

0:01:03.278,0:01:05.971
and others towards detention,

0:01:05.971,0:01:09.844
but I no longer think about schools'[br]abilities to solve these things.

0:01:10.429,0:01:13.981
You see, I've learned that so much[br]of this problem is systemic

0:01:13.981,0:01:18.522
that often our school system[br]perpetuates the social divide.

0:01:19.075,0:01:21.773
It makes worse what it's supposed to fix.

0:01:22.362,0:01:24.029
That's as a crazy or controversial

0:01:24.029,0:01:26.638
as saying that our health care system[br]isn't preventative

0:01:26.638,0:01:29.763
but somehow profits[br]off of keeping us sick ...

0:01:29.763,0:01:30.612
oops.

0:01:30.612,0:01:31.891
(Laughter)

0:01:32.159,0:01:34.857
I truly do believe though[br]that kids can achieve great things

0:01:34.857,0:01:36.309
despite the odds against them,

0:01:36.309,0:01:38.887
and in fact, my own research shows that.

0:01:39.487,0:01:43.399
But if we're serious about helping [br]more kids from across the board

0:01:43.399,0:01:46.362
to achieve and make it in this world,

0:01:46.362,0:01:49.558
we're going to have to realize[br]that out gaps in student outcomes

0:01:49.558,0:01:53.965
are not so much about achievement[br]as much as they are about opportunity.

0:01:55.054,0:01:57.587
A 2019 EdBuild report showed

0:01:57.587,0:02:02.187
that majority-white districts received[br]about 23 billion dollars more

0:02:02.187,0:02:04.322
in annual funding[br]than non-white districts,

0:02:04.706,0:02:06.773
even though they serve about the same[br]number of students.

0:02:07.807,0:02:10.780
Lower resource schools are dealing[br]with lower quality equipment,

0:02:10.780,0:02:12.363
obsolete technology

0:02:12.363,0:02:13.612
and paying teachers way less.

0:02:14.260,0:02:15.819
Here in New York,

0:02:15.819,0:02:17.892
those are also the schools[br]most likely to serve

0:02:17.892,0:02:20.141
the one in 10 elementary school students

0:02:20.141,0:02:23.711
who will most likely have to sleep[br]in a homeless shelter tonight.

0:02:24.866,0:02:27.577
The student, parent and teacher[br]are dealing with a lot.

0:02:28.706,0:02:32.141
Sometimes places are misplacing[br]the blame back on them.

0:02:32.850,0:02:36.195
In Atlanta, we saw that teachers[br]felt desperate enough

0:02:36.195,0:02:39.663
to have to help their students cheat[br]on standardized tests

0:02:39.663,0:02:41.083
that would impact their funding.

0:02:41.630,0:02:44.380
Eight of them went [br]to jail for that in 2015

0:02:44.380,0:02:48.000
with some sentences as high as 20 years,

0:02:48.000,0:02:51.186
which is more than what many states[br]give for second-degree murder.

0:02:52.582,0:02:53.618
The thing is though,

0:02:53.618,0:02:55.275
in places like Tulsa,

0:02:55.275,0:02:57.233
teachers pay has been so bad

0:02:57.233,0:02:59.183
that these people have had[br]to go to food pantries

0:02:59.183,0:03:01.687
or soup kitchens just to feed themselves.

0:03:02.596,0:03:07.485
The same system will criminalize[br]a parent who will use a relative's address

0:03:07.485,0:03:10.428
to send their child to a better school,

0:03:10.428,0:03:13.210
but for who knows how long[br]authorities have turned a blind eye

0:03:13.210,0:03:15.290
to those who can bribe their way

0:03:15.290,0:03:18.634
onto the most elite and beautiful[br]college campueses.

0:03:20.085,0:03:22.762
And a lot of this feels[br]pretty heavy to be saying --

0:03:22.762,0:03:24.483
and maybe to be hearing --

0:03:24.483,0:03:28.615
and since there's nothing quite like[br]economics talk to lighten the mood --

0:03:28.615,0:03:31.177
that's right, right?

0:03:31.177,0:03:33.541
Let me tell you about some of the costs

0:03:33.541,0:03:35.239
when we fail to tap[br]into our students' potential.

0:03:36.020,0:03:38.990
A McKinsey study showed that if in 1998

0:03:38.990,0:03:42.174
we could've closed our long-standing[br]student achievement gaps

0:03:42.174,0:03:44.313
between students of different[br]ethnic backgrounds

0:03:44.313,0:03:47.012
or students of different income levels,

0:03:47.012,0:03:49.779
by 2008, our GDP --

0:03:49.779,0:03:51.596
our untapped economic gains --

0:03:51.596,0:03:54.449
could have gone up by more[br]than 500 billion dollars.

0:03:55.177,0:03:57.612
Those same gaps in 2008,

0:03:57.612,0:04:01.694
between our students here in the US[br]and those across the world,

0:04:01.694,0:04:03.456
may have deprived our economy[br]

0:04:03.456,0:04:08.236
of up to 2.3 trillion dollars[br]of economic output.

0:04:09.653,0:04:12.262
But beyond economics, numbers and figures,

0:04:12.262,0:04:14.929
I think there's a simpler reason[br]that this matters;

0:04:14.929,0:04:17.637
a simpler reason for fixing our system

0:04:17.637,0:04:19.880
is that in a true democracy,

0:04:19.880,0:04:22.429
like the one we pride ourselves on having,

0:04:22.429,0:04:24.431
and sometimes rightfully so,

0:04:24.431,0:04:26.605
a child's future should not[br]be predetermined

0:04:26.605,0:04:28.678
by the circumstances of their birth.

0:04:29.098,0:04:34.480
A public education system should not[br]create a wider bottom and more narrow top.

0:04:35.242,0:04:36.657
Some of us can sometimes think

0:04:36.657,0:04:39.384
that these things aren't[br]that close to home,

0:04:39.384,0:04:41.554
but they are if we broaden our view,

0:04:41.554,0:04:44.346
because a leaky faucet in our kitchen,

0:04:44.346,0:04:46.834
broken radiator in our hallway,

0:04:46.834,0:04:50.593
those parts of the house that we always[br]say we're going to get to next week,

0:04:50.593,0:04:52.425
they're devaluing our whole property.

0:04:53.507,0:04:58.259
Instead of constantly looking away[br]to solutions like privitization

0:04:58.259,0:05:01.131
or the charter school movement[br]to solve our problems,

0:05:01.131,0:05:03.978
why don't we take a deeper look[br]at public education,

0:05:03.978,0:05:05.683
try to take more pride in it

0:05:05.683,0:05:09.505
and maybe use it to solve[br]some of our social problems.

0:05:10.373,0:05:14.681
Why don't we try to reclaim[br]the promise of public education

0:05:14.681,0:05:17.980
and remember that it's our greatest[br]collective responsibility?

0:05:19.225,0:05:21.859
Luckily some of our communities[br]are doing just that.

0:05:22.760,0:05:27.642
The huge teacher strikes in the spring[br]of 2019 in Denver and LA --

0:05:27.642,0:05:30.580
they were successful because[br]of community support

0:05:30.580,0:05:32.824
for things like smaller class sizes

0:05:32.824,0:05:35.892
and getting things into schools[br]like more counselors

0:05:35.892,0:05:37.328
in addition to teacher pay.

0:05:38.029,0:05:39.927
And sometimes for the student,

0:05:39.927,0:05:43.251
innovation is just daring[br]to implement common sense.

0:05:44.196,0:05:45.465
In Baltimore a few years ago,

0:05:45.465,0:05:48.293
they enacted a free breakfast[br]and lunch program,

0:05:48.293,0:05:50.604
taking away the stigma[br]of poverty and hunger

0:05:50.604,0:05:52.023
for some students

0:05:52.023,0:05:55.471
but increasing achievement[br]in attendance for many others.

0:05:56.309,0:05:57.222
And in Memphis,

0:05:57.222,0:06:00.941
the university is recruiting local,[br]passionate high school students

0:06:00.941,0:06:04.117
and giving them scholarships[br]to go teach in the inner city

0:06:04.117,0:06:06.544
without the burden of college debt.

0:06:07.216,0:06:08.517
And north of here in the Bronx,

0:06:08.517,0:06:10.823
I recently researched[br]these partnerships being built

0:06:10.823,0:06:14.534
between high schools, community[br]colleges and local businesses

0:06:14.534,0:06:18.837
who are creating internships in finance,[br]health care and technology

0:06:18.837,0:06:21.999
for students without[br]"silver spoon" connections

0:06:22.055,0:06:23.719
to gain important skills

0:06:23.719,0:06:26.014
and contribute to the communities[br]that they come from.

0:06:27.770,0:06:31.716
So today I don't necessarily have[br]the same questions about education

0:06:31.716,0:06:36.127
that I did when I was an idealistic,[br]perhaps naïve college grad

0:06:36.127,0:06:38.067
working in a detention center basement.

0:06:38.677,0:06:42.432
It's not, can schools[br]save more of our students,

0:06:42.432,0:06:44.191
because I think we have[br]the answer to that,

0:06:44.191,0:06:46.192
and it's yes they can[br]if we save our schools first.

0:06:46.192,0:06:53.250
We can start by caring about the education[br]of other people's children ...

0:06:53.250,0:06:56.485
and I'm saying that as someone[br]who doesn't have kids yet,

0:06:56.485,0:06:59.800
but wants to worry a little bit less[br]about the future for when I do.

0:07:01.284,0:07:03.749
Cultivating as much talent as possible,

0:07:03.749,0:07:06.634
getting as many girls[br]as we can from all over

0:07:06.634,0:07:08.684
into science and engineering,

0:07:08.684,0:07:12.514
and as many boys[br]as we can into teaching --

0:07:12.514,0:07:14.737
those are investments for our future.

0:07:15.669,0:07:19.020
Our students are like[br]our most valuable resource,

0:07:19.020,0:07:20.863
and when you put it that way,

0:07:20.863,0:07:24.440
our teachers are like our modern-day[br]diamond and gold miners,

0:07:24.440,0:07:25.898
hoping to help make them shine.

0:07:26.611,0:07:28.661
Let's contribute our voices,

0:07:28.661,0:07:30.997
our votes and our support

0:07:30.997,0:07:33.490
to giving them the resources[br]that they will need

0:07:33.725,0:07:35.972
not just to survive,

0:07:35.972,0:07:37.467
but hopefully thrive,

0:07:37.467,0:07:39.639
allowing all of us to do so as well.

0:07:40.209,0:07:41.149
Thank you.

0:07:41.338,0:07:44.856
(Applause and cheers)