There Was Nothing More Important

No One Is Mandating Merit Pay.

The Jobs Of The Future, As You Know So Well, Are Knowledge-based. You Need College-educated Folks To Do This Work. And So The Consequences For Our Country Are Absolutely Devastating If We Don't Start To Behave In Very Different Ways.

The Only Way We Get Better Is To Look In The Mirror, Assess Our Strengths And Weaknesses, And Figure Out Where We Need To Go. But If We Run Around Saying, We're Number One, We're Number One, And We're Not, That Doesn't Help Us Get Where We Need To Go.

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.

My Vision Is That Schools Need To Be Community Centers. Schools Need To Be Open 12, 13, 14 Hours A Day Six, Seven Days A Week, 12 Months Out Of The Year, With A Whole Host Of Activities, Particularly In Disadvantaged Communities.