City Year Is Taking On

Education Is The Civil Rights Issue Of Our Generation.

Surveys Show That Many Talented And Committed Young People Are Reluctant To Enter Teaching For The Long Haul Because They Think The Profession Is Low-paying And Not Prestigious Enough.

It's Fascinating To Me That Some Of The Pushback Is Coming From Sort Of White Suburban Moms Who, All Of A Sudden, Their Child Isn't As Brilliant As They Thought They Were, Their Schools Aren't Quite As Good As They Thought They Were. And That's Pretty Scary.

To Be Clear, We The Department Of Education Want Curriculum To Be Driven By The Local Level. We Are By Law Prohibited From Directing Curriculum. We Don't Have A Curriculum Department.

When Schools Truly Become Centers Of The Community, Where You Have Extraordinary Teachers, The Best Teachers, The Best Principals, Great Nonprofit Partners Coming In During The Non-school Hours To Support And Do Enrichment Activities, Social Services, Then Those Students Will Beat The Odds, Will Beat Poverty, Will Beat Violence In The Community, Will Beat Sometimes Dysfunctional Families, And Be Productive Citizens Long Term. They Will Go To College.