There's So Much That We're Doing Wrong

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.

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.

If The Goal Is To Dramatically Improve College Completion Rates, Not College-going Rates By Itself But College Completion, It's Not Just A College Problem. We Need A Big Focus On Early Childhood Education. Our Early Childhood Education System Is Pretty Good In This Country. Not Enough Students Have Opportunity. And, Very Discouragingly, They Lose Their Advantage Because They Go To Poor Schools After That. So, Let's Focus On Our Babies.

About Two-thirds Of Bachelor's Degree Holders Borrow To Go To School, And On Average They're Graduating With More Than $26,000 In Debt.

What You See Around The World Is That Poverty Is Not Destiny. In Other Countries, Much More Systemically, Student After Student, School After School, Year After Year, Educate Poor And Disadvantaged Young People. And, So, Anyone Who Says That You Can't Overcome These Battles Is A Huge Part Of The Problem.