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I want to talk to you about my kids.

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Now, I know everyone thinks
that their kid is the most fantastic --

3
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the most beautiful
kid that ever lived ...

4
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but mine really are.

5
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(Laughter)

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I have 696 kids,

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and they are the most intelligent,

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inventive,

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innovative,

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brilliant and powerful kids
that you'll ever meet.

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Any student I've had the honor
of teaching in my classroom is my kid.

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However, because their
"real" parents aren't rich,

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and I argue because
they are mostly of color,

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they will seldom get to see in themselves
the awesomeness that I see in them.

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Because what I see in them is myself --

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or what would have been myself.

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I am the daughter of two hardworking,

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college educated,

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African-American parents

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who chose careers as public servants.

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My father --

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a minister.

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My mother --

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an educator.

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Wealth was never the primary
ambition in our house.

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Because of this lack of wealth,

27
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we lived in a neighborhood
that lacked wealth,

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and henceforth a school system
that lacked wealth.

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Luckily, however

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we struck the educational jackpot

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in a voluntary desegregation program

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that buses inner-city kids --

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black and brown --

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out to suburban schools --

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rich and white.

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At five years old I had to take
an hour-long bus ride

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to a far away place

38
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to get a better education.

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At five years old I thought
everyone had a life just like mine.

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I thought everyone went to school

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and were the only ones
using the brown crayons

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to color in their family portraits,

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while everyone else was using
the peach-colored ones.

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At five years old I thought
everyone was just like me,

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but as I got older I started
noticing things like:

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how come my neighborhood friends

47
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don't have to wake up
at five o'clock in the morning,

48
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and go to a school that's an hour away?

49
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How come I'm learning to play the violin

50
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while my neighborhood friends
don't even have a music class?

51
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Why were my neighborhood friends
learning and reading material

52
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that I had done two to three years prior?"

53
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See, as I got older,

54
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I started to have this unlawful
feeling in my belly,

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like I was doing something that I
wasn't supposed to be doing --

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taking something that wasn't mine,

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receiving a gift

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but with someone else's name on it.

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All these amazing things
that I was being exposed to

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and experiencing,

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I felt I wasn't really supposed to have.

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I wasn't supposed to have a library,

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fully equipped athletic facilities,

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or safe fields to play in.

65
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I wasn't supposed to have
theatre departments

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with seasonal plays and concerts --

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digital, visual, performing arts.

68
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I wasn't supposed to have fully
resourced biology or chemistry labs,

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school buses that brought me door-to-door,

70
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freshly prepared school lunches

71
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or ever air conditioning.

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These are things my kids don't get.

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You see as I got older,

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while I was grateful for
this amazing opportunity

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that I was being given,

76
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there was this every present pang of ...

77
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but what about everyone else?

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There are thousands
of other kids just like me

79
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who deserve this, too.

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Why doesn't everyone get this?

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Why is a high-quality education
only exclusive to the rich?

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It was like I had some
sort of survivor's remorse.

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All of my neighborhood friends were
experiencing an educational trainwreck

84
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that I was saved from through a bus ride.

85
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I was like an educational Moses screaming,

86
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"Let my people go ...

87
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to high quality schools!"

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(Laughter)

89
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I'd seen firsthand how the other half
was being treated and educated.

90
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I'd seen the educational promised land,

91
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and I could not for the life of me
justify the disparity.

92
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I now teach in the very same school
system from which I sought refuge.

93
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I know firsthand the tools that were
given to me as a student,

94
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and now as a teacher,

95
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I don't have access to those same tools

96
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to give my students.

97
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There have been countless
nights when I've cried in frustration,

98
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anger

99
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and sorrow,

100
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because I can't teach my kids
the way that I was taught --

101
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because I don't have access
to the same resources or tools

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that were used to teach me.

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My kids deserve so much better.

104
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We sit and we keep banging
our heads again this term:

105
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"Achievement gap,

106
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achievement gap!"

107
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Is it really that hard to understand

108
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why these kids perform well
and these kids don't?

109
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I mean, really.

110
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I think we've got it all wrong.

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I think we,

112
00:05:08,292 --> 00:05:10,531
as Gloria Ladson-Billings says,

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should flip our paradigm and our language

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and call it was it really is.

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It's not an achievement gap;

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it's an education debt

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for all of the forgone schooling resources

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that were never invested in the education
of the black and brown child over time.

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A little-known secret
in American history

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is that the only American institution
created specifically for people of color

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is the American slave trade --

122
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and some would argue the prison system,

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but that's another topic
for another TED Talk.

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(Laughter)

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The public school system of this country
was built, bought and paid for

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using commerce generated
from the slave trade and slave labor.

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While African-Americans were enslaved

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and prohibited from schooling,

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their labor established
the very institution

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from which they were excluded.

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Ever since then,

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every court case,

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educational policy --

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reform --

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has been an attempt to retrofit the design

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rather than just stopping
and acknowledging:

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we've had it all wrong from the beginning.

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An oversimplification of American
educational history.

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All right just bear with me.

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Blacks were kept out --

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you know, the whole slavery thing.

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With the help of
philanthropic white people,

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they built their own schools.

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Separate but equal was okay.

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But while we all know
things were indeed separate,

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they were in no ways equal.

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Enter Brown v. Board of Education
of Topeka, Kansas in 1954;

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legal separation of the races
is now illegal.

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But very few people pay attention

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to all of the court cases since then

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that have undone the educational
promised land for every child

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that Brown v. Board intended.

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Some argue that today our schools
are now more segregated

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than they ever were before we tried
the desegregate them in the first place.

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Teaching my kids about desegregation --

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the Little Rock Nine,

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the Civil Rights Movement --

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is a real awkward moment in my classroom,

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when I have to hear
the voice of a child ask,

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"If schools were desegregated in 1954,

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how come there are no white kids here?"

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(Laughter)

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These kids aren't dumb.

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They know exactly what's happening,

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and what's not.

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They know that when
it comes to schooling ...

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black lives don't matter,

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and they never have.

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For years I tried desperately

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to cultivate in my kids a love of reading.

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I'd amassed a modest classroom library

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of books I'd accumulated
from secondhand shops,

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thrift stores,

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attics --

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you know.

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But whenever I said those dreadful words,

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"Take out a book and read,"

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you'd think I'd just declared war.

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It was torture.

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One day,

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after I heard about this website
called [DonorsChoose],

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where classroom teachers create wish lists
of items they need for their classroom,

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and anonymous donors fulfill them,

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I figured I'd go out on a limb,

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and just make a wish list
of the teenager's dream library.

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Over 200 brand new books
were sent to my room piece by piece.

187
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Every day there were new deliveries

188
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and my kids would exclaim with glee,

189
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"This feels like Christmas!"

190
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(Laughter)

191
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Then they'd say,

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"Ms. Sumner, where'd
these books come from?"

193
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And then I'd reply,

194
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"Strangers from all over the country
wanted you to have these."

195
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And then they'd say,

196
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almost suspiciously ...

197
00:09:02,721 --> 00:09:04,471
"But they're brand new."

198
00:09:04,471 --> 00:09:05,496
(Laughter)

199
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To which I'd reply,

200
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"You deserve brand-new books."

201
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The whole experience hit home
for me when one of my girls,

202
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as she peeled open a crisp paperback said,

203
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"Ms. Sumner --

204
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you know,

205
00:09:20,122 --> 00:09:22,224
I figured you bought these books

206
00:09:22,224 --> 00:09:25,453
'cause you teachers
are always buying us stuff.

207
00:09:25,453 --> 00:09:27,480
But to know that a stranger,

208
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someone I don't even know,

209
00:09:29,433 --> 00:09:33,133
cares this much about me is pretty cool."

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Knowing that strangers
will take care of you

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is a privilege my kids aren't afforded.

212
00:09:40,383 --> 00:09:41,848
Ever since the donation

213
00:09:41,848 --> 00:09:45,928
there has been a steady stream of kids
signing out books to take home,

214
00:09:45,928 --> 00:09:48,546
and then returning them
with the exclamation,

215
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"This one was good!"

216
00:09:50,496 --> 00:09:51,502
(Laughter)

217
00:09:51,502 --> 00:09:53,598
Now when I say, "take out
a book and read,"

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kids rush to my library.

219
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It wasn't that they didn't want to read,

220
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but instead they'd gladly read
if the resources were there.

221
00:10:05,658 --> 00:10:07,586
Institutionally speaking,

222
00:10:07,586 --> 00:10:11,867
our public school system has never
done right by the black and brown child.

223
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We keep focusing on the end results,

224
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or test results,

225
00:10:16,310 --> 00:10:17,823
and getting frustrated.

226
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We get to catastrophe and we wonder,

227
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"How did it get so bad?

228
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How did we get here?"

229
00:10:23,961 --> 00:10:25,116
Really?

230
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If you neglect a child long enough,

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you no longer have the right

232
00:10:29,726 --> 00:10:32,738
to be surprised when
things don't turn out well.

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Stop being perplexed,

234
00:10:35,298 --> 00:10:36,947
or confused,

235
00:10:36,947 --> 00:10:38,998
or befuddled

236
00:10:38,998 --> 00:10:40,948
by the achievement gap,

237
00:10:40,948 --> 00:10:42,194
the income gap,

238
00:10:42,194 --> 00:10:43,679
the incarceration rates,

239
00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:48,726
or whatever socioeconomic disparity
is the new "it" term for the moment.

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00:10:49,502 --> 00:10:51,937
The problems we have as a country

241
00:10:51,937 --> 00:10:54,244
are the problems we created as a country.

242
00:10:54,938 --> 00:10:58,499
The quality of your education
is directly proportionate

243
00:10:58,499 --> 00:11:00,380
to your access to college,

244
00:11:00,380 --> 00:11:02,131
your access to jobs,

245
00:11:02,131 --> 00:11:04,401
your access to the future.

246
00:11:05,825 --> 00:11:11,071
Until we live in a world where every kid
can get a high-quality education

247
00:11:11,071 --> 00:11:12,575
no matter where they live,

248
00:11:12,575 --> 00:11:14,615
or the color of their skin,

249
00:11:14,615 --> 00:11:18,998
there are things we can do
on a macro level.

250
00:11:19,564 --> 00:11:23,136
School funding should not
be decided by property taxes,

251
00:11:23,136 --> 00:11:25,497
or some funky economic equation

252
00:11:25,497 --> 00:11:28,405
where rich kids continue
to benefit from state aid

253
00:11:28,405 --> 00:11:30,337
while poor kids are continuously

254
00:11:30,337 --> 00:11:34,257
having food and resources
taken from their mouths.

255
00:11:34,957 --> 00:11:38,764
Governors, senators, mayors,
city council members --

256
00:11:38,764 --> 00:11:41,728
if we're going to call public
education public education,

257
00:11:41,728 --> 00:11:43,801
then it should be just that.

258
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Otherwise we should
call it what it really is:

259
00:11:46,874 --> 00:11:48,714
poverty insurance.

260
00:11:49,331 --> 00:11:50,910
"Public education:

261
00:11:50,910 --> 00:11:53,724
keeping poor kids poor since 1954."

262
00:11:54,021 --> 00:11:55,473
(Laughter)

263
00:11:56,808 --> 00:11:57,813
If we really,

264
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as a country,

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believe that education
is the "great equalizer,"

266
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then it should be just that:

267
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equal and equitable.

268
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Until then there's no democracy

269
00:12:08,824 --> 00:12:11,041
in our democratic education.

270
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On a mezzo level:

271
00:12:13,958 --> 00:12:15,253
historically speaking,

272
00:12:15,253 --> 00:12:17,032
the education of a black and brown child

273
00:12:17,032 --> 00:12:20,163
has always depended
on the philanthropy of others.

274
00:12:20,489 --> 00:12:23,977
And unfortunately today it still does.

275
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If your son or daughter,

276
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or niece or nephew,

277
00:12:27,023 --> 00:12:28,534
or neighbor,

278
00:12:28,534 --> 00:12:30,579
or little Timmy down the street

279
00:12:30,579 --> 00:12:32,826
goes to an affluent school,

280
00:12:32,826 --> 00:12:36,023
challenge your school committee
to adopt an impoverished school,

281
00:12:36,023 --> 00:12:38,085
or an impoverished classroom.

282
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Close the divide by engaging
in communication

283
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and relationships that matter.

284
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When resources are shared,

285
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they're not divided;

286
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they're multiplied.

287
00:12:50,062 --> 00:12:51,954
And on a micro level,

288
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if you're a human being:

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donate ...

290
00:12:55,708 --> 00:12:59,762
time, money, resources, opportunities --

291
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whatever is in your heart.

292
00:13:03,118 --> 00:13:05,266
There are websites like [DonorsChoose]

293
00:13:05,266 --> 00:13:07,418
that recognize the disparity

294
00:13:07,418 --> 00:13:10,234
and actually want
to do something about it.

295
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What is a carpenter with no tools?

296
00:13:14,549 --> 00:13:16,742
What is an actress with no stage?

297
00:13:17,094 --> 00:13:19,737
What is a scientist with no laboratory?

298
00:13:20,122 --> 00:13:23,018
What is a doctor with no equipment?

299
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I'll tell you.

300
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They're my kids.

301
00:13:27,410 --> 00:13:29,406
Shouldn't they be your kids, too?

302
00:13:30,045 --> 00:13:31,041
Thank you.

303
00:13:31,389 --> 00:13:33,335
(Applause)