Filed under: Dr. Boyce Money, News
One condition of the deal is that the city's mayor, Corey Booker, is going to be allowed to play a major role in how the district is run. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad idea, since I've heard mixed reviews on Corey Booker. He seems far less interested in helping the city of Newark than he is in becoming the next post-racial presidential candidate. But I digress on this until we see more of Booker's future.
Booker seems to want to change the way teachers are paid, linking their compensation to student performance. This makes sense to me, as the destruction of our students seems to result from a creative partnership between the teachers and parents alike. Parents are not involved the way they should be, but when they are involved, their children's futures are stolen by teachers who set terribly low expectations for their kids.
Zuckerberg made his announcement today on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The pledge was made in conjunction with his new movie, "The Social Network," set to be released next week. One interesting thing about Zuckerberg is that he and other wealthy public figures are going out of their way to give back to the world. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and others are setting a trend that Zuckerberg and others like him seem willing to follow.
What I constantly wonder is whether or not black celebrities are ever going to follow suit? I recall watching Diddy give his son a $350,000 car in one hand, and a $10,000 check to Haiti in the other. I wondered why the entire country of Haiti deserved only 1/35th of what he'd just given to his son. Perhaps our priorities should be modified.
"What you're seeing is for the under-40 set, education reform is what feeding kids in Africa was in 1980," said Derrell Bradford, the executive director of the group Excellent Education for Everyone. "Newark public schools are like the new Live Aid."
In addition to Zuckerberg's donation, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation gave $290 million in grants, including $100 million for the schools in Tampa, Florida. They also gave $90 million to the schools in Memphis, Tenn. Newark has 40,000 students and a $940 million annual budget, in addition to terribly low test scores and graduation rates.
I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of our kids being defined as the "New Live Aid." Black children should not be the charity cases being taken up by wealthy liberals who want to make the world a better place. Their efforts are certainly appreciated, but the sign of a weak community is one where its people cannot sustain and provide for themselves.
The $100 million being provided by Zuckerberg is a great start, but the real bailout for our kids is going to come from parents and the community. We must all become involved in the educational lives of our children, as well as make ourselves available for children who are not our own. We should set the bar high for our kids and demand that they pursue education as diligently as they pursue entertainment and sports. We must also push as a community to hold school systems and poor teachers accountable when they allow our kids to be turned to intellectual waste after being buried under a system that cares more about protecting teachers' jobs than about helping young people to have a future. We all need to be part of the bailout.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and author of the book, "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about College." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.