WEBVTT

00:00:00.500 --> 00:00:04.434
My first job out of college
was as an academic researcher

00:00:04.458 --> 00:00:08.809
at one of the largest juvenile
detention centers in the country.

00:00:08.833 --> 00:00:10.934
And every day I would drive
to this building

00:00:10.958 --> 00:00:12.393
on the West Side of Chicago,

00:00:12.417 --> 00:00:14.226
go through the security checkpoint

00:00:14.250 --> 00:00:19.226
and walk down these brown, brick hallways
as I made my way down to the basement

00:00:19.250 --> 00:00:21.768
to observe the intake process.

00:00:21.792 --> 00:00:25.018
The kids coming in
were about 10 to 16 years old,

00:00:25.042 --> 00:00:27.143
usually always black and brown,

00:00:27.167 --> 00:00:31.601
most likely from the same impoverished
South and West Sides of Chicago.

00:00:31.625 --> 00:00:34.684
They should've been
in fifth to 10th grade,

00:00:34.708 --> 00:00:37.143
but instead they were here
for weeks on end

00:00:37.167 --> 00:00:39.934
awaiting trial for various crimes.

00:00:39.958 --> 00:00:44.667
Some of them came back to the facility
14 times before their 15th birthday.

00:00:45.375 --> 00:00:48.476
And as I sat there on the other side
of the glass from them,

00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:51.059
idealistic with a college degree,

00:00:51.083 --> 00:00:52.768
I wondered to myself:

00:00:52.792 --> 00:00:57.000
why didn't schools do something more
to prevent this from happening?

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

00:00:59.792 --> 00:01:03.018
and I still think about how some kids
get tracked towards college

00:01:03.042 --> 00:01:05.768
and others towards detention,

00:01:05.792 --> 00:01:10.184
but I no longer think about schools'
abilities to solve these things.

00:01:10.208 --> 00:01:13.768
You see, I've learned that so much
of this problem is systemic

00:01:13.792 --> 00:01:18.851
that often our school system
perpetuates the social divide.

00:01:18.875 --> 00:01:22.101
It makes worse what it's supposed to fix.

00:01:22.125 --> 00:01:23.893
That's as a crazy or controversial

00:01:23.917 --> 00:01:26.559
as saying that our health care system
isn't preventative

00:01:26.583 --> 00:01:29.559
but somehow profits
off of keeping us sick ...

00:01:29.583 --> 00:01:30.851
oops.

00:01:30.875 --> 00:01:31.893
(Laughter)

00:01:31.917 --> 00:01:34.768
I truly do believe though
that kids can achieve great things

00:01:34.792 --> 00:01:36.268
despite the odds against them,

00:01:36.292 --> 00:01:39.268
and in fact, my own research shows that.

00:01:39.292 --> 00:01:43.184
But if we're serious about helping
more kids from across the board

00:01:43.208 --> 00:01:46.143
to achieve and make it in this world,

00:01:46.167 --> 00:01:49.268
we're going to have to realize
that our gaps in student outcomes

00:01:49.292 --> 00:01:54.000
are not so much about achievement
as much as they are about opportunity.

00:01:54.667 --> 00:01:57.351
A 2019 EdBuild report showed

00:01:57.375 --> 00:02:01.893
that majority-white districts
receive about 23 billion dollars more

00:02:01.917 --> 00:02:04.518
in annual funding than nonwhite districts,

00:02:04.542 --> 00:02:07.518
even though they serve
about the same number of students.

00:02:07.542 --> 00:02:10.643
Lower resource schools are dealing
with lower quality equipment,

00:02:10.667 --> 00:02:12.143
obsolete technology

00:02:12.167 --> 00:02:14.018
and paying teachers way less.

00:02:14.042 --> 00:02:15.559
Here in New York,

00:02:15.583 --> 00:02:17.809
those are also the schools
most likely to serve

00:02:17.833 --> 00:02:20.309
the one in 10 elementary school students

00:02:20.333 --> 00:02:23.833
who will most likely have to sleep
in a homeless shelter tonight.

00:02:24.542 --> 00:02:28.393
The student, parent and teacher
are dealing with a lot.

00:02:28.417 --> 00:02:32.518
Sometimes places are misplacing
the blame back on them.

00:02:32.542 --> 00:02:35.934
In Atlanta, we saw that teachers
felt desperate enough

00:02:35.958 --> 00:02:39.518
to have to help their students
cheat on standardized tests

00:02:39.542 --> 00:02:41.351
that would impact their funding.

00:02:41.375 --> 00:02:44.226
Eight of them went
to jail for that in 2015

00:02:44.250 --> 00:02:47.809
with some sentences as high as 20 years,

00:02:47.833 --> 00:02:51.250
which is more than what many states
give for second-degree murder.

00:02:52.375 --> 00:02:55.059
The thing is though, in places like Tulsa,

00:02:55.083 --> 00:02:57.059
teachers' pay has been so bad

00:02:57.083 --> 00:02:59.393
that these people have had
to go to food pantries

00:02:59.417 --> 00:03:02.351
or soup kitchens just to feed themselves.

00:03:02.375 --> 00:03:07.268
The same system will criminalize a parent
who will use a relative's address

00:03:07.292 --> 00:03:10.184
to send their child to a better school,

00:03:10.208 --> 00:03:13.143
but for who knows how long
authorities have turned a blind eye

00:03:13.167 --> 00:03:15.059
to those who can bribe their way

00:03:15.083 --> 00:03:18.750
onto the most elite and beautiful
college campuses.

00:03:19.792 --> 00:03:22.434
And a lot of this feels
pretty heavy to be saying --

00:03:22.458 --> 00:03:24.226
and maybe to be hearing --

00:03:24.250 --> 00:03:28.976
and since there's nothing quite like
economics talk to lighten the mood --

00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:30.726
that's right, right?

00:03:30.750 --> 00:03:32.643
Let me tell you about some of the costs

00:03:32.667 --> 00:03:35.684
when we fail to tap
into our students' potential.

00:03:35.708 --> 00:03:38.643
A McKinsey study showed that if in 1998

00:03:38.667 --> 00:03:41.893
we could've closed our long-standing
student achievement gaps

00:03:41.917 --> 00:03:44.184
between students
of different ethnic backgrounds

00:03:44.208 --> 00:03:46.768
or students of different income levels,

00:03:46.792 --> 00:03:49.518
by 2008, our GDP --

00:03:49.542 --> 00:03:51.351
our untapped economic gains --

00:03:51.375 --> 00:03:54.893
could have gone up
by more than 500 billion dollars.

00:03:54.917 --> 00:03:57.434
Those same gaps in 2008,

00:03:57.458 --> 00:04:01.643
between our students here in the US
and those across the world,

00:04:01.667 --> 00:04:03.309
may have deprived our economy

00:04:03.333 --> 00:04:08.417
of up to 2.3 trillion dollars
of economic output.

00:04:09.375 --> 00:04:11.976
But beyond economics, numbers and figures,

00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.601
I think there's a simpler reason
that this matters;

00:04:14.625 --> 00:04:17.434
a simpler reason for fixing our system

00:04:17.458 --> 00:04:19.601
is that in a true democracy,

00:04:19.625 --> 00:04:21.726
like the one we pride
ourselves on having --

00:04:21.750 --> 00:04:24.393
and sometimes rightfully so --

00:04:24.417 --> 00:04:26.518
a child's future
should not be predetermined

00:04:26.542 --> 00:04:28.684
by the circumstances of their birth.

00:04:28.708 --> 00:04:34.934
A public education system should not
create a wider bottom and more narrow top.

00:04:34.958 --> 00:04:36.476
Some of us can sometimes think

00:04:36.500 --> 00:04:38.976
that these things
aren't that close to home,

00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:41.268
but they are if we broaden our view,

00:04:41.292 --> 00:04:44.018
because a leaky faucet in our kitchen,

00:04:44.042 --> 00:04:46.559
broken radiator in our hallway,

00:04:46.583 --> 00:04:50.476
those parts of the house that we always
say we're going to get to next week,

00:04:50.500 --> 00:04:52.542
they're devaluing our whole property.

00:04:53.250 --> 00:04:57.934
Instead of constantly looking away
to solutions like privatization

00:04:57.958 --> 00:05:00.934
or the charter school movement
to solve our problems,

00:05:00.958 --> 00:05:03.643
why don't we take a deeper look
at public education,

00:05:03.667 --> 00:05:05.684
try to take more pride in it

00:05:05.708 --> 00:05:10.143
and maybe use it to solve
some of our social problems.

00:05:10.167 --> 00:05:14.393
Why don't we try to reclaim
the promise of public education

00:05:14.417 --> 00:05:18.042
and remember that it's
our greatest collective responsibility?

00:05:18.917 --> 00:05:22.393
Luckily some of our communities
are doing just that.

00:05:22.417 --> 00:05:27.393
The huge teacher strikes
in the spring of 2019 in Denver and LA --

00:05:27.417 --> 00:05:30.518
they were successful
because of community support

00:05:30.542 --> 00:05:32.601
for things like smaller class sizes

00:05:32.625 --> 00:05:35.643
and getting things into schools
like more counselors

00:05:35.667 --> 00:05:37.768
in addition to teacher pay.

00:05:37.792 --> 00:05:39.684
And sometimes for the student,

00:05:39.708 --> 00:05:43.809
innovation is just daring
to implement common sense.

00:05:43.833 --> 00:05:45.268
In Baltimore a few years ago,

00:05:45.292 --> 00:05:48.101
they enacted a free breakfast
and lunch program,

00:05:48.125 --> 00:05:50.393
taking away the stigma
of poverty and hunger

00:05:50.417 --> 00:05:51.934
for some students

00:05:51.958 --> 00:05:56.018
but increasing achievement
in attendance for many others.

00:05:56.042 --> 00:05:57.309
And in Memphis,

00:05:57.333 --> 00:06:00.726
the university is recruiting
local, passionate high school students

00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:04.018
and giving them scholarships
to go teach in the inner city

00:06:04.042 --> 00:06:06.893
without the burden of college debt.

00:06:06.917 --> 00:06:08.434
And north of here in the Bronx,

00:06:08.458 --> 00:06:10.934
I recently researched
these partnerships being built

00:06:10.958 --> 00:06:14.226
between high schools,
community colleges and local businesses

00:06:14.250 --> 00:06:18.643
who are creating internships
in finance, health care and technology

00:06:18.667 --> 00:06:21.518
for students without
"silver spoon" connections

00:06:21.542 --> 00:06:23.476
to gain important skills

00:06:23.500 --> 00:06:26.125
and contribute to the communities
that they come from.

00:06:27.500 --> 00:06:31.518
So today I don't necessarily have
the same questions about education

00:06:31.542 --> 00:06:35.893
that I did when I was an idealistic,
perhaps naïve college grad

00:06:35.917 --> 00:06:38.351
working in a detention center basement.

00:06:38.375 --> 00:06:42.268
It's not, can schools
save more of our students,

00:06:42.292 --> 00:06:44.351
because I think
we have the answer to that,

00:06:44.375 --> 00:06:48.726
and it's yes they can
if we save our schools first.

00:06:48.750 --> 00:06:52.375
We can start by caring about the education
of other people's children ...

00:06:53.750 --> 00:06:56.476
and I'm saying that
as someone who doesn't have kids yet,

00:06:56.500 --> 00:06:59.792
but wants to worry a little bit less
about the future for when I do.

00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:03.476
Cultivating as much talent as possible,

00:07:03.500 --> 00:07:06.351
getting as many girls
as we can from all over

00:07:06.375 --> 00:07:08.393
into science and engineering,

00:07:08.417 --> 00:07:12.184
and as many boys as we can
into teaching --

00:07:12.208 --> 00:07:15.351
those are investments for our future.

00:07:15.375 --> 00:07:18.809
Our students are like
our most valuable resource,

00:07:18.833 --> 00:07:20.601
and when you put it that way,

00:07:20.625 --> 00:07:24.059
our teachers are like our modern-day
diamond and gold miners,

00:07:24.083 --> 00:07:26.309
hoping to help make them shine.

00:07:26.333 --> 00:07:28.309
Let's contribute our voices,

00:07:28.333 --> 00:07:30.768
our votes and our support

00:07:30.792 --> 00:07:33.434
to giving them the resources
that they will need

00:07:33.458 --> 00:07:35.643
not just to survive,

00:07:35.667 --> 00:07:37.143
but hopefully thrive,

00:07:37.167 --> 00:07:40.226
allowing all of us to do so as well.

00:07:40.250 --> 00:07:41.518
Thank you.

00:07:41.542 --> 00:07:44.833
(Applause and cheers)