In the South for the First Time...
So I'm in the South for the first time in my life, in Atlanta - courtesy of the Southern Education Foundation and their wonderful Southern Educational Leadership initiative, which brings a group of current college students together to learn more about pressing issues in American K-12 education and then sets them up with meaningful summer internships with a variety of educational groups in the southern states.
I'll spare you the observations about the South from a mid-western grown boy who's been desensitized to the world by too much time on the East coast, but I will tell you a little bit about the Southern Educational Leadership initiative, why I think it's so important, and what I'm here to try and help with.
It probably won't come as a surprise to you to learn that of all the problems that we have as a country with K-12 education, those problems are most pronounced in the deep South. A major reason for that is because the southern states have among the lowest tax base of all states--with the poorest communities of all concentrated in low-income rural areas. And in America, if you don't have a tax-base that you can count on to raise revenues for schools, you can tax yourself until your blue in the face but your schools more often than not still won't have the kinds of resources, teachers, and facilities necessary to provide excellent education. Incredible educators, dedicated communities, and hard-working students can beat the odds and still succeed in these conditions, but the deck is severely stacked against them. And without any sort of an equitable system of school finance--statewide or federally--if you're a child born in a poor South Carolina town you're pretty much destined to fight against the odds your entire educational career.
One of the things that is necessary to beat the odds--or restack the deck so that the odds are fair--is leadership. And the Southern Education Foundation knows that great leadership and talent in K-12 education will only come about if we work for it, which is why they recruit highly motivated and capable college student leaders to join this program. My job tomorrow morning will be to try and encapsulate what I perceive to be the "major trends and innovations" in education and education policy today, and then to foster an open discussion with the students about what these trends mean for young people and what we can do to push the needle in the right direction.
I can't wait for this opportunity to talk with these students tomorrow because what they think and what they have to say will mean everything for thousands and perhaps millions of children in the future. I'll be back tomorrow to let you know how it goes.