Charlie Rose

Maria Charqueno  10/08/2008 01:33 AM Report

Maria Charqueno

10/8/08

The relationship between education, race and juvenile delinquency is indisputably connected. It is paramount that children from less affluent neighborhoods, who are more oft than not minorities, be given equal access to stimulating, challenging educational programs. The evidence has shown that lack of funding to schools in poorer neighborhoods results in a population who later surface in the criminal justice system. Mr. Canada’s points out over 480,000 Black Males are in prison whereas only 40,000 Black males are college graduates—these numbers speak for themselves and demonstrate the epidemic occurring in the American education system. The fact of the matter is we continue to be a racially tinged and socially segregated society wherein the distribution of funding continues to be channeled inappropriately. The solutions offered by big government continue to purport the expansion and construction of more prisons with an average annual cost of $30,000 per inmate rather than putting those dollars into enhancing a crumbling educational system. It is ridicules to think that we are affording our children with the necessary skills for success; it seems that the norm in American society to equate failure, unworthiness, and criminality with poor, non-white people. Tragic does not even begin to describe this mess.

Jesse L Howell   07/30/2008 04:11 PM Report

Mr. Canada and our next president, Mr. Obama,--along with others in the field, including legislators--should get together and hold an Educational Summit (2009) to tackle the dismal state of American Public Education, which is in a crisis and a huge embarrassment to this country . Geoffrey Canada is a Socratic intellectual leader who is honest about the tremendous problems facing our youth-- who are getting a shameful deal at the expense of so-called leaders that simply talk , do nothing, or tinker at best. Governmental policies from the local to the national level have been a sham-- since they conserve the status quo inequalities based solely on geographical resources. We can not continue to do the same; over and over again and despair. We need to move beyond despair and lead!!! [Oh, Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush should also hold their education summit, but in Iraq, where the seeds of democracy are just beginning to bloom.\

Nancy Panoz  07/30/2008 07:18 AM Report

Request a tour and meeting with Geoffry Canada

for 2 young men founding childrens homes in Georga and in West Virginia

Larry L. Davis  03/22/2008 02:23 PM Report

I'm a product of the Harlem community and a graduate of PS 113, and Wadleigh and Brandeis, went on to the college of New Rochelle and received my degree. I'm a first of four to complete High School and College. I was a Substance Abuse Prevention Intervention Specialist (S.A.P.I.S.) in several schools in the Harlem community in Community School District Three for 12 years and then moved on to become a Parent Support Officer in District Five to now continue my role in the parent engagement/involvement field under the new title of District Family Advocate. I have just turned 40 and am still considered a statistic in the negative sense of an African American male in America.

I really enjoyed the video presented, Mr. Canada was frank in his assessment of the need of the educational system to do better by the next generation of our future. A future his program has made a strong impact in reducing the cycle of disconnect from what tomorrow holds for children in general. He talked about what to do about the school day, extending the hours and the level of teacher competence, holding them accountable with increasing the skills of our children to succeed academically. The plan necessary to inspire the change needed isn't simple and it isn't found in the need to compensate at a substantial level or pay more money or give greater incentives to teachers to do better by the children they have been charged with educating or inspire towards academic success. There must be incentives towards mandating academic success as important in the lives of all individuals who have a stake in the development of our country to achieve and perform much greater than other countries. Our discipline is flawed when it comes to taking this work more seriously. The first is many aren't trained to handle the social economic and emotional issues confronting, faced by students, parents, families and teachers both in the school, home, community and on the job. Second, more time must be spent on reinforcing the values of positive relationships within the family. Schools in which a principal inspires the teachers not only to teach but have honest conversation about the challenges the children, parents and families are facing each and every day. Teachers not only believing it is a responsibility and role of the profession to just teach but also to inspire and be a bright light in the lives of our children at each level. Many children and parents and families can become turned off from the process set forth to promote educational excellence when the structure speaks about ways to recognize where individuals are and the need to address the challenges beyond reading, writing and arithmetic. It is looking at the whole child community and well being set in the school building which funnels out to the broader community. How are after school programs connected to education, how are social service programs connected to education, how are homes and family as well as student, child development connected to education. When and how do we begin to look at the bigger picture as Mr. Canada describes and bring our causes to a greater realization we aren't doing right by our children. Teachers must be flexible and real about saving the lives of our children in the school building, principals must be flexible in realizing where the children and families are in their own existence beyond what is presented in the classroom, it is sad to sit and be successful in the school and receive good grades and do well to have a realization within that says what is this for and I'm not going to be able to do anything with this anyway.

Finally, let us incorporate survival, valued strategies in the school, home and community connecting the church and social economic, emotional realities to the work done in school. Until we also realize there is no real comeback when a child is held back in a particular grade and the probability of the student dropping out or giving up on education becomes greater when children/students are held back at a greater capacity. With this said the graduating perspective for any child who is having difficulty learning and is held over in the third, fifth, seventh and eighth grades moves the graduation range to 22 years of age for anyone who just happens to be held over as a result of the policies in place. Let's be real about the success needed to bring children who in reality are first generation high school students to the successfulness of completing or achieving high school completion. I thank the Harlem Children's Zone for the work they are doing to bring the entire community together on this issue and making an impact in the Harlem community to increase the amount of young people who are applying to college and graduating from high school. It is important now more than ever before to stop looking at the providers of the services Teachers/

Principals) and begin to look at the many children/students who are lost in the shuffle of the disconnect from where the problems in our success/achievement in society are. Now more than ever before we need programs supported and families better prepared to handle the challenges our children face each day, with social, economic and emotional issues taking precedent towards change. The current generation and the next generation deserve a greater level of commitment from the educational system and if it doesn't take place and a plan isn't set in place we will continue to have individuals who know what to say, place it in writing and failing to implement it for the better of all involved. Thank you Mr. Canada for your frank assessment let us move towards improving our commitment to the future now.

Pandora  03/08/2008 10:01 PM Report

I was disappointed with Geoffrey Canada in this interview. I think his message was stronger in 2004 when he was sticking to his own program and being specific about what his targeted community needed. He seemed more original. He just isn't as strong with his vague, general advice about national education policy and, to me, sounds like he is just repeating someone elseâ??s dogma.

As for schools not doing a good job, if you want to find other folks who are doing a worse job, just look at the current crop of U.S. parents. Parents are nearly totally out of touch with what their children really need.

As a society we are failing our children on many levels. We permit the media to bombard them with a set of sick values, we permit young girls to be sexualized, and we permit kids to be exposed to inappropriate violent and sexual images. And donâ??t forget that, because parents are unwilling to deal with their childrenâ??s obesity (as well as their own) the general health of todayâ??s children is so bad that they are projected to have shorter life spans than their parents. In a country as wealthy and â??smartâ?? as ours, just stop -- and think -- about what this really means.

I will never understand why so many people keep fixating on the schools because our nationâ??s children arenâ??t doing better.

Brett  02/18/2008 08:50 PM Report

It seems that Mr. Canada is a businessman and not an educator. Mr. Rose keeps pressing for a specific plan to improve education in the U.S. and Mr. Canada really doesn't have one. I don't blame him...there are no easy solutions here.

Lucie Bridgforth  01/11/2008 06:30 PM Report

Congratulations on an outstanding program. I sat glued to the TV as I listened with great admiration to Geoffrey Canada speak with such enthusiasm about his program in Harlem. I wish I could share his optimism. But my 20 plus years of experience in teaching tells me that, as we say down here in the Deep South, people are just whistlin' Dixie if they think that kind of reform can be implemented on a broad national level. The political will is simply not there. How many votes would a candidate get in a local, state, or national election if he/she really pushed for a longer school day and school year, real merit pay for good teachers (and dismissal for the incompetent), collaboration and support from all parents? Students, teachers, and parents would rise up in arms.

But, hey! The SEC, comprisng states with an over-abundance of chronically underperforming schools, won 7 out of 9 bowl games, including the national championsip. In the South we know how to put first things first!

floutenvy  01/06/2008 01:56 AM Report

It's not about being better able to compete in a global economy.

It's about being able to join a global community.

I do not want my kids educated by a person there for money, I do want them educated by a person motivated by an ideal.

The comment by Linda Fitzgerald above is good, the problem is most likely that parents do not know how to parent or more to the point they do not know how to educate children.

Potentially schools need to include the entire family. In MN where my kids were born there was a program called ECFE (early childhood family education) it I think gave my wife and I the encouragement to educate our children not just be their parents.

Schools and the system behind it do need to change, where I think Mr Canada is either not speaking to this topic or is wrong. Is that our teachers in their unions could pressure the unions to pressure the school boards to run things differently. Where is the sense of personal commitment, don't just have the unions pressure for better pay and benefits for a decade just pressure them to get a better system in place.

I learned in my public education that it was not being about the money that did or made the best things in America. Now a lot of good things have come from greedy ventures. But the best things in life are free.

Also at the start I didn't like the bar being set at degreed students. It should be something more like the number of students who go on to contribute to society to a community. The number of students who live well and ask questions. Students with an inquisitive mind should be the successes.

It used to be that a degree meant that a person was a thinking person they were trained how to think and ask questions. More and more I think it just shows they were able to get a certain level of work completed with a high enough level of quality.

While I appear to knock Mr. Canada I believe he has done a lot more then I have, in fact I am sure of it, to better the world community. And while I do not like so of his angles on things I do agree with what he has said and I applaud his efforts.

Thank you.

john morris  01/05/2008 02:51 PM Report

Charlie,

I wanted to print some feed back on Mr. canada's apperance on your show to share with some of my friends, however you have it fixed so I can not print them. I am sad.

john

David Barry  01/04/2008 07:36 PM Report

Mr. Canada had a lot of important and useful things to say. The omission that stood out to me was any discussion of the extent to which our problems in urban education stem from factors wholly outside the school system. Again and again you or he would come racing up to this issue (e.g., in the discussion of the failure of moving kids from poor urban schools to wealthier suburban schools to affect outcomes for them) and then drop it. One group spends most of its time outside school in a relatively enriched environment and the other in a relatively impoverished one and this makes a huge difference; unsurprisingly the results are pretty different, and we don't have affordable proposals for how to really compensate for this. So that's what I'm looking for in the next interview.

Danny L Hoff  01/04/2008 04:07 PM Report

Mr.Rose

...so much of what was illuded to by Mr.Canada statements is so true.I will be returning to China again next month.My frame of referance specificall is to the hours that are placed into the classroom by the students.The chineese students that I observed ( In Suzhou-near Shanghai)were going to school at 07:00 in the morning and returning same at 20:00 Hrs.So often it was a family affair with parents taking part in the morning walk to school.The pressure placed on the kids to get into college is tremendous. There entrance is based upon a competitive exam placement.

Mr. Rose, there is no doubt that Mr.Geoffrey did't lack enthusiasm and compassion for his subject. I found it rather cute at time you trying to ask a question and he was talking at 100 +/- mph.Mr. Rose I have always loved your professional attitude and you sincere approach to what ever the subject is for that days discussion.Thanks for everything and I wish you continued success.

Danny L Hoff

Shaft  01/04/2008 02:42 PM Report

Charlie, another fine program THANK YOU! Mr Canada has read a pice I posted somewhere or briefed by someone that read it. I argued about the cost of keeping many people in jail vurses the economic argument. One thing Mr. Canada excluded from my argumnt was that instead of imprisoning many people and finace their paid and three meal stay in jail, we can have them out pay taxes to the system so they can contribute to the ever deplting pension. Instead of scaring us there will not be enough dough in the pension fund to address future elderly we can have the jailed have the training in jail and have them out on condition to work and pay taxes to Uncle Sam's coffer. That way we can balance things faster, not only that save the problem of the ever depleting pension coffer, but also the immigration where illegal workers coming to America to take care of the construction jobs as well as the gap between poor and rich. Which is already being augmented by all the problems being compounded due to the prison system. Sometimes our society over looks the cost/benefit analysis in order to always do what is right, jailing for an extended period of time those who commit small crimes. We either do that or introduce hard labor sentences to dangerous criminals, which is a more radical idea but will certainly reduces crimes committed. This address bothe the lefties and right wingers problem at the same time. after all it is always expected to have both left and right in a democractic society. I hope this will address both lefty's and right wingers concerns. Opportubity for low level criminals and hard labor for murder criminals. And those wrongly convicted should be conmensated from the wealth generated by the hard laborers.

Tom Corbett  01/04/2008 02:16 PM Report

Mr. Canada's interview was great, and I just want know where has he been all this time. This interview needs to be sent to all Teacher's Unions in America in hopes of opening their eyes to our educational system and how to make improvements.

Margaret Whiting  01/04/2008 02:07 PM Report

This comment by Linda Fitzgerald I will send to as many people I can.

Charlie, I Loved that interview. Could you please have him on again. Geoffery Canada makes the most sense of anyone I've heard.

I would request you to have him on again to

discuss how he would make necessary changes.

Charlie, I am a substitute teacher and have worked in several school systems. What he talked about is just as he stated. We as a

community need specific guidance as to how we can be an agent of change for the future of this generation of children and this nation as a whole.

Thank you for the foresight and heart for real issues.

Comment by Linda Fitzgerald on Thursday, Jan 3 at 01:02 AM

I listened to Mr. Canada and much of what he said is true. But he did not explain anywhere near enough that the main problem in education is the lack of funds. He did say that scholastic performance is related to people's income. He also said that wealthy towns do a good job of educating their children. Let's look at the people who live in these towns--well educated, relatively well-adjusted, more informed about children and education from the day their child is conceived, more social advantages, etc. This is passed on to their children. Poor people have not had all of these advantages. It is not that they don't want to be a good parent. They may not know how to be one. They also do not have the means to provide the experiences that children need to succeed in school. I do not agree with Mr. Canada that two big problems are teachers not being well-prepared and that merit pay is the answer. Testing is important so that we know what skills a child has and what a child is lacking. But once we know those scores, where is the money for the school adjustment counselors, guidance counselors, reading teachers, smaller class sizes, enough materials and books,, special help in all subject areas, etc.? The federal government mandated No Child Left Behind and has reduced the amount of money each year from the original sum. The cost of everything is going up--salaries, heating and energy costs, books and materials, etc. Our Schools are old and dilapidated, filled with leaking roofs and mold, etc. I have been a public elementary school teacher since 1963. I did not go into teaching because my SAT scores were poor. I did because I liked school and children. I live in a small town , Randolph, MA, where we are beginning to have educational problems similar to cities because poorer children from the city of Boston and more multi-cultural children are moving in. We do not have the financial resources to provide for all of their needs, We do not have a large enough tax base and very little industry to tax. The federal government has got to step up to the plate and do its job. We have to take care of our own people and we are not doing a very good job of it. We have homeless people, out of work people, people with no health insurance, drug addicts, too many people in prison--the list goes on and on. If Bill Gates and his foundation would help our town, I am sure that we could be an excellent model for the whole of the United States. I have that much faith in the people and the town where I have lived since I began my college years at Boston University. Would you like to interview our Superintendent and his administration, concerned teachers, parents and townspeople? We could tell you exactly what our problems are , ways to solve them and how much money we need to solve them. It's not rocket science --just good old fashioned common sense of caring people. I am a retired teacher and a concerned citizen still hanging in there pitching for the good of the children who live in my town. By the way, I enjoy your program very much. Linda Fitzgerald 12 Willard Terrace Randolph, MA 02368 1-781-986-4260

Francine White  01/03/2008 07:33 PM Report

I saw Mr.Canada on the program last evening and was so impressed that I made my 17 yo son James, come an watch the remainder of the show with me.He is freshman early education major at an HBCU and part of a program that encourages young black men who are preparing to be educators. Mr. Canada offered an enlightened viewpoint on education, which led us into a great discussion on politics and the issues he will be looking at as a new voter in 2008!. Thank you Mr. Rose. When you get a teenage to put down the iPod, laptop and cell phone and watch a program with his Mom, you've really hit the mark!!

Ralph Morrison  01/03/2008 07:05 PM Report

We just saw your interview with Geoffrey Canada. You have had some great guests on the show, but we have not been more impressed with anyone more than Mr. Canada. If some Presidential candidate would promise to make him Secretary of Education, we would vote for him in a heart beat. We heard some of the same things from your interview with the Chancellor of the NY city schools, but Mr. Canada was more direct about addressing the real national issues of education.

James Loynd  01/03/2008 03:16 PM Report

Mr Canada says that the solution to education is to recruit the best teachers and pay them a fair wage. This is still teaching the old fashioned way. In this digital age we also need the best teachers creating online courses that every student can access. Links to more advanced concepts will help the bright and bored student. Links to more detailed explaination will help those struggling.

Ed  01/03/2008 01:45 PM Report

As I listened to Mr. Canada, I was struck by his deep insight into the big picture of education. I am currently employed at a state university and we also are seeing a loss of talented leaders due to a lack in incentive. The setion I work n is responsible for trainng of veterinary doctors. Our university is having a difficult time recuriting and retaining faculty, simply because a state institution cannot compete with private industry in regards to comphensation. Mr. Canada hit the nail right on the head when he stated that the old system of philenthropic teahingwas not going to work n the futre. If major universties cannot recruite the best leaders in their to teach our young professionals than imagine what is happening at the grade school level.

Eugenia Paulus  01/03/2008 11:52 AM Report

I applaud Mr.Canada's frank appraisal of the education system in America. Since there are many other countries doing a far better job than America in this area, perhaps the powers that be should have the experts visit these countries for some insight. I also believe that while we need motivated and talented teachers, we also need to have accountability for the children. "Social Promotion" does not work. When the school children complete their school education and come to college, there is often a rude awakening because you have to reach a certain level of performance to be able to move to the next level. Even the most motivated and talented teacher cannot make all the kids be educated-unless the kids wants to be educated and that is what a promotion based on performance will achieve.

Abramo Ottolenghi  01/03/2008 10:39 AM Report

I watched the segment with Mr. Canada and agreed with many of the things he said. I agree that longer days and longer school years are essential. The resistance to that comes from parents (athletics are all important) and from taxpayers. On the other hand, I do not think that in this interview Mr. Canada emphasized enough the lack of student discipline. This lack of discipline disrupts classrooms so that those who want to learn can't. I volunteer in such a classroom and can see the frustration in the eyes of students who would like to work but are impeded from doing so. No amount of money will cure that. Regarding merit pay the hangup there is evaluation. The new panacea is the concept value-added but it is easier to add value to low performing students than to high-performers. Personally I am opposed to charter schools and vouchers because handing my tax money to parents without my having any say-so on management, curriculum etc. (as I have when I get to vote for school board members and tax levies) is not my preference. As an example I would object to funding a school where creationism was taught as the truth while negating evolution. Yet, I would have no say on that.

TABS  01/03/2008 04:08 AM Report

AMEN. The current school system in the USA resembles that of the former Soviet system in Russia. We all know what the outocme of that social experiment was. Teachers largely come into the profession motivated but after 5 years get burned out by the system. The more highly motivated ones leave for more lucrative and rewarding careers. On one hand teachers have to deal with parents that don't understand why their darling Johnny is failing and on the other the teacher has to deal with the bureaucracy of the school administration that tells the teacher what he can and can't do. In any class room you have a number of kids who are going to do well, then there is the middle group who struggle to get by and then there are kids who bring their baggage from home and disrupt the class. The teacher has to devote so much time and effort dealing with the kids who are disruptive that the teacher doesn't have the time to help the kids who are struggling to get by. The teacher can't get rid of the kids who are disruptive. For many districts attendance is all about State and Federal money. So the situation isn't about providing more money, nor standardized tests its about a broken system that has become bureaucratized. I have seen this problem in upper middle class schools and in the poorer parts of town as well, so this is not an endemic problem.If any parent out there thinks their child is being educated in a public school setting your mistaken. Even the best of the schools fall far short, as Mr Canada said even our best falls short of our foreign competitions level of achievment. To a large degree parents need to spend more time and effort educating their own children, to take responsibility for their childrens education instead of passing it off to the instutionalized system that we currently have in the US of A. Over a cigar I once asked a Proffessor at one of the Claremont Colleges in California what he would do if he graduated from a California High School. His one word response was, "SUE!"

brent donaldson  01/03/2008 03:09 AM Report

Charlie Rose has many interesting guests and the interviews are often riveting...Yet this discussion with G Canada ups the ante.

Canada illuminates what is among the most important handful of issues confronting our country's future propsects for a vibrant, successful society....but is the elephant in the corner about which no one wishes to speak.

Importantly, Canada relies on the clear and obvious to reach his conclusions and gives no protection to sacred cows; whether its lack of incentives, inadequate pay or the effects of the education monopoly and unions.

Notwithstanding his protestations to the contrary, our country could use someone such as Canada running the country's national educational agenda from a cabinet seat in D.C.

Good on Charlie Rose.

Jill Schager  01/03/2008 02:58 AM Report

I enjoyed the interview with Geoffrey Canada this evening. I kept waiting for him to give some concrete examples of educational interventions that do work and he kept talking in the same generalities and oblique references that keep us going around and around in circles whenever educational policy is discussed. There is research out there that can inform this conversation and point policy makers and citizens in a much more useful direction. This research tells us that smaller classroom size does make a difference. In kindergarten and 1st grade, learning starts to fall off when class size gets above 15 children. Yet we continue to put children in these grades in classes of 20-30 children. Mr. Canada talked about Title 1 programs. We know that even in typical classrooms, about 20% of children have difficulty keeping up with the pace of learning in reading and/or math. There often are no Title 1 math services in schools. Title 1 programs often use one size fits all remedial approaches for reading, but the biggest problem is that students are not identified and the services are not offered as early and with the intensity that is needed. Because the funds are not available to hire enough Title 1 teachers, many students who need these services do not receive them. Sue LLoyd, Dr. Diane McGuinness, and Dr. J. Richard Gentry have written excellent books describing how to teach reading effectively and/or what the research tells us about reading instruction. Dr, Eric Jensen has written widely on what brain-based research tells us and about practical ways to apply this information in the classroom. A very basic concept is that as a child grows, he/she has experiences that begin to build neural networks in the brain. These are essential for future learning. Social and first hand educational experiences such as trips to the farm, parks, zoos, libraries, beach, making choices, being read to, conversations, vacations, etc. are essential to developing background knowledge (neural networks in the brain) so that when information is presented in abstract ways in the classroom, there is a place for the new information introduced in school to connect and be stored in the brain. This is the huge advantage that children growing up in middle class and wealth have over children growing up in poverty: they have many experiences that provide background knowledge and language (in neural networks) that support later academic learning. A very important way schools can address this is through field trips related to learning BEFORE the more abstract instruction is provided and through hands on activities and projects. Also, all educators and policy makers are aware of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but the application of this to learning is constantly ignored or minimized. A related point is that the purpose and goal of the brain is survival. So physical and social survival trumps academic learning (think about bullying, family and safety issues). The brain must perceive academic learning as contributing to survival or at least novel and interesting to attend to the learning tasks. Most academic initiatives do need to be school-wide to provide the continuity, staff development and financial support to make them effective. A teacher cannot address all issues within the classroom. The teacher does need support services to be available to students within the school to address situations that affect learning.

Barry Meyer  01/03/2008 02:55 AM Report

This is the most important conversation of 2008, and in my view, the next decade for the United States. Education in the United States is the most thoroughly document failure that has ever been documented. Mr. Canada has identified the root causes of educational failure and he is attempting to fix the problems. He is not waiting for additional research, debate or studies...he is action oriented and he is making a difference today. He is in every sense of the word...a leader. And he has motivated me to take action in my community. I hope this video will be widely disseminated to education boards, parents, political leaders and business leaders in the United States. As Mr. Canada makes clear, we need no further proof that our current system is a horrid failure and the time for taking action is now.

Cincinnati, OH

Pat Hansen  01/03/2008 01:51 AM Report

The most compelling argument I got from Mr. Canada was the yearly costs of housing an inmate in prison and the amount sent on a child for a year of school. If we as a country can spend 30 thousand a year to 'protect' us from the bad people, why can't we make an equally large investment with our own children? The return on investment in the long run would be enormous; the prison overcrowding would disappear, the income\racial inequality gap would have a chance of narrowing. If we really want to compete in the future as a dominate, innovative country it really is a no brain idea that change must happen.

Paul  01/03/2008 01:47 AM Report

I strongly encourage every parent to see this interview with Mr. Canada. This was probably the most relevant 30 minutes of TV that I can remember.

I hope everyone can set aside their preconceived ideas of unions, vouchers, partisanship, race, and poverty and listen to Mr. Canada as he articulates these issues and prescribes priorities that must be addressed if our children are to thrive in future generations.

The only regret I have is that Mr. Canada did not address how (or if) the education system can overcome the effects of non-existent or deteriorating family structures.

Linda Fitzgerald  01/03/2008 01:02 AM Report

I listened to Mr. Canada and much of what he said is true. But he did not explain anywhere near enough that the main problem in education is the lack of funds. He did say that scholastic performance is related to people's income. He also said that wealthy towns do a good job of educating their children. Let's look at the people who live in these towns--well educated, relatively well-adjusted, more informed about children and education from the day their child is conceived, more social advantages, etc. This is passed on to their children.

Poor people have not had all of these advantages. It is not that they don't want to be a good parent. They may not know how to be one. They also do not have the means to provide the experiences that children need to succeed in school.

I do not agree with Mr. Canada that two big problems are teachers not being well-prepared and that merit pay is the answer.

Testing is important so that we know what skills a child has and what a child is lacking. But once we know those scores, where is the money for the school adjustment counselors, guidance counselors, reading teachers, smaller class sizes, enough materials and books,, special help in all subject areas, etc.? The federal government mandated No Child Left Behind and has reduced the amount of money each year from the original sum. The cost of everything is going up--salaries, heating and energy costs, books and materials, etc. Our Schools are old and dilapidated, filled with leaking roofs and mold, etc.

I have been a public elementary school teacher since 1963. I did not go into teaching because my SAT scores were poor. I did because I liked school and children. I live in a small town , Randolph, MA, where we are beginning to have educational problems similar to cities because poorer children from the city of Boston and more multi-cultural children are moving in. We do not have the financial resources to provide for all of their needs, We do not have a large enough tax base and very little industry to tax.

The federal government has got to step up to the plate and do its job. We have to take care of our own people and we are not doing a very good job of it. We have homeless people, out of work people, people with no health insurance, drug addicts, too many people in prison--the list goes on and on.

If Bill Gates and his foundation would help our town, I am sure that we could be an excellent model for the whole of the United States. I have that much faith in the people and the town where I have lived since I began my college years at Boston University.

Would you like to interview our Superintendent and his administration, concerned teachers, parents and townspeople? We could tell you exactly what our problems are , ways to solve them and how much money we need to solve them. It's not rocket science --just good old fashioned common sense of caring people. I am a retired teacher and a concerned citizen still hanging in there pitching for the good of the children who live in my town.

By the way, I enjoy your program very much.

Linda Fitzgerald

12 Willard Terrace

Randolph, MA 02368

1-781-986-4260