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Black Enterprise spearheads education reform event



Recently, I was invited to a symposium on Educating Tomorrow's Workforce. It was sponsored by Black Enterprise Magazine and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It took place in the Grand Ballroom at the luxury hotel, the Westin, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Speakers included Mayor Anthony Foxx of Charlotte, Dr. Charles Ogletree of Harvard, and Dr. Robert Carter of Johnson C. Smith University. The event touched on the crisis of the underdeveloped, under-skilled, and under-educated workforce, as it currently exists.

My mom recently told me that there are new manufacturing jobs coming to North Carolina, but they are for skilled workers, and they won't have enough people to fulfill the positions. Allan C. Golston touched on this issue during his segment at the symposium. He said by 2020, there will be 153 million jobs available, but only roughly 50-60 million high school graduates to fill them. And with African-American students, only about 65% are graduating on the whole.
Education symposium with Black Enterprise
and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Westin, Charlotte

Something is extremely wrong with this picture. Somewhere along the lines we have derailed. I spoke with a relative not too long ago. He told me he had dropped out of high school. It pissed me off because there was no reason for it, other than "hanging with the wrong crowd." Look, if I hear that "hanging with the wrong crowd" line, one more time!!! If you're in the crowd, you're in the wrong as well.

But surely I digress. The issue, as I see it, is that we repeatedly tell kids how the system is not educating them. Surely, I grew up in a different system. But I also grew up with parents who did not care what the system was. My home rule was: "A" or failing. Meaning, if it was not straight As, my sister and I were failing.

It did not matter what the system process was at school. Didn't matter if the teacher disliked us or taught in a way that we did not understand. However, if that were the case, guess what? My folks would go have a word with the teachers.

I feel like a lot of the crisis comes from the home life. The system cannot be attacked, successfully, when the home life is out of whack. Don't get me wrong, the system is part of the issue with the home life as well. I will never forget studying the Civil Rights Movement. Often when it came to litigation, the people had to find the "perfect" person to set forward. Someone without spot or wrinkle, so to speak. They wanted the person used to fight the system, to be someone the system could not blame for his/her own problems.

Why? Because if you cannot point the finger at the person, you would have to point it at the system. Now? Not so much the case. If you have kids who cannot read or write, but can sing, dance, and play video games...that is not a system issue. It is something that starts before the system ever gets its hands on a student. Funny, because the system tends to steer certain students into adult lives of servitude and entertainment, and it starts when they are young.
  1. 27 Mar
    Heading into the final prep for today's Follow the # for live tweets this afternoon

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  2. 27 Mar
    3pE TODAY Symposium: Educating Tomorrow's Workforce. Details:

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  3. 27 Mar
    3pE TODAY Biz Crisis: Educating Tomorrow's Workforce. Follow Hashtag:

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  1. 27 Mar
    What is the seamless partnership between higher ed and the biz world?

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  2. 27 Mar
    Suzanne Walsh : Black students completing college is the civil rights issue of the 21st Century
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  3. 27 Mar
    Richard "Stick" Williams of : Corps must partner with black organizations to find minority talent
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  1. 27 Mar
    Stephanie Butler "You have to know what you want to do. Declare it early."

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  2. 27 Mar
    Panel discussion with Suzanne Walsh, Richard "Stick" Williams, David Dodson, Stephanie Butler
     View photo
  3. 27 Mar
    High school students in a work based learning environment have a 93% graduation rate.…

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  4. 27 Mar
    President "We try to make sure students have a passport and have studied abroad."

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The Crisis: Both private and systemic 

 The crises in education these days are both system issues and personal/private issues. That is where mentors and community can come in to change things privately, while the system gets corrected to change things globally. How often do you see communities create Pop Warner science and math teams? Not often, right? But you'd better believe kids are given a ball and told: "This is your only way out." That mentality has to change, as we change the system.

Our education system is exceedingly flawed. It is too standard and too antiquated. It is also too easy to push children into certain tracts in order to make the system flow. Children indeed learn differently and have to be educated in the ways in which they learn to maximize their potential. Also, children have to be evaluated based on their individual talents. This evaluation has to come early. I asked the panelists how soon children should be evaluated for their skills and talents, Dr. Carter said, "Third grade. That's when we tend to lose them."

Mind blowing right? I think children are about 9 years old in third grade. However, I recall being evaluated in kindergarten. I was placed on the academically gifted tract. Not everyone is built for science and math, but many who are get pushed aside because they are not into writing and liberal arts.

 So what do we do? How do we change the system to create a better workforce. Not just a system of employees, but one of employers? Is it impossible?

My solutions are seemingly simple:


  • Start early. Give children toys that tap into their talents and build their aptitude. 
  • Change your child's environment. The status of some communities as war zones, is real! Work to change your neighborhood or get out of that neighborhood.
  • Help your neighbor. Look, not everyone can do it on their own. We have to all pitch in.
  • Volunteer at schools. Schools do have a heavy burden, however, partnering with industries and communities can lighten that burden.
  • Fix the education system. That is a huge task, but on some level we have to go back to basics.
  • Don't make athletics the only way out. If you are going to build athletes, build them for the business of athletics and not just the sport of it. 
  • Get better teachers and better administration. I met a lady running for school board who said she focuses on the children, not the politics of it. She has my upcoming vote!

WHAT SOLUTIONS DO YOU HAVE?
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