Filed under: Celebrity News
You might have heard the dirge of depressing education statistics: The United States has dropped from first to 18th place in high school graduation rates among developed nations. First to 14th in college graduation rates. First to 35th in math. First to 29th in science. First to 32nd in reading. Oh and 30 percent of our kids -- much higher among poor and minority children -- aren't graduating from high school during a time when a college degree is increasingly required to earn a living above the poverty line. And we spend more per student than any of the countries that are beating us.
Many of our schools are literally and figuratively crumbling. They aren't providing American children with the quality education that is the fundamental right of every citizen.
So what do we do? Give up? Move to Finland (#1 across the board)? Canada (#2 in reading and science)? Shrug our shoulders and blame the kids and their parents? No, we can't afford to do that. Ensuring that ALL American children can access a quality education is the civil rights issue of our time. We cannot stand idly by and allow this institutionalized inequality to continue.
Please read the rest at The Huffington Post.
Those are surprisingly strong words from a man I think of as "wanting the green light," because he's "ready to go right now." But in all seriousness, referring to access to quality education as "the civil rights issue of our time" is truly a universal call to action. Many groups of people and movements have tried to take up the mantle of the black civil rights movement, and rightly so. When African Americans first marched for fair treatment, this was an unheard of act that yielded results. Today, in our culture of apathy and political resignation, groups of people who are not being served by society look to our civil rights history for inspiration about how to politically move forward.
So John -- thank you for your call to action. As a celebrity, you are using your power wisely to draw attention to an important issue. The question remains if and how Americans will take in this messages of required social agitation. The young people being most affected by the horrible state of the education system might take in Legend's message and protest for what they deserve. Perhaps it will be their parents that instigate for what is right.
But one thing is clear. If people do not act on the grass roots level, as the original African American, white, Jewish and other civil rights activists did, nothing will change. Then, not only will children miss out on the education they deserve -- America will also fall prey to the reality that other nations are much better at preparing their kids. Dozens of nations are setting up their future work force well -- not only to work, but also to create and innovate economically and technologically.
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Thus, whether we as Americans take on the civil rights cause of education will have lasting financial effects on our society for decades to come. America used to dominate economically. Now we are seeing a leveling playing field. Soon, we might be asking if we can even keep up with the rest of the world -- unless people take action now to improve America's schools.