I Think It's My Job

When I Ask Teachers Why They Teach, They Almost Always Say That It Is Because They Want To Make A Difference In The Lives Of Children.

This Is A Devastating Problem, Is, The Longer Our Children Are In School, The Worse They Do. Year After Year After Year, Our Children In America Are Falling Further Behind. Our 3- And 4-year-olds Enter Kindergarten Ok, And They Fall Further And Further Behind. Each Year, Children In Other Countries Are Learning More Than Children In This Country. And So The Gap Between American Student Performance In Singapore And Finland And South Korea And Canada And These Other Countries, The Gap Widens Year After Year After Year.

We Need To Invest In Very Different Ways. Get The Students The Support They Need, Get Them The Best Principals, Get Them The Great Teachers, And I Promise You Those Students Would Do Extraordinarily Well. I Have Seen It All My Life.

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.

I Believe That Education Is The Civil Rights Issue Of Our Generation. And If You Care About Promoting Opportunity And Reducing Inequality, The Classroom Is The Place To Start. Great Teaching Is About So Much More Than Education; It Is A Daily Fight For Social Justice.