CHAUTAUQUA - The discussion on public education at the Chautauqua Institution continued Wednesday with a presentation by Jonathan Schnur.
Schnur, the co-founder of New Leaders, New Schools, spoke to the audience about the federal Race To The Top program, and how education can be reformed to the benefit of all children. The need for federal standards and policies is very important in this generation, he said.
"As the secretary of education Dick Riley has said, 'We have a once in three generation opportunity,'" he said. "We need to be the change."
From the founding of our country, the forefathers understood the value of education, he said.
"They knew that in order to be a free society we had to be educated," he said.
Schnur discussed the current state of the education system, describing the United States' fall from the number one position in high school and college graduation rates in the world, to "the middle of the pack," he said. He shared the story of his great-great grandfather, who came to this country with the equivalent of an elementary school education, and was able to become successful in owning a business and prospering. However, he shared the fact that these expectations no longer suit our children or our society.
"What was once OK. for my great great-grandfather is no longer OK for our kids," he said. "The impact of the achievement gaps is the equivalent of a permanent recession in our economy. We haven't gotten worse on an absolute level, but we have become content with the stagnation of the education system."
This stagnation of the system results in the falling behind on demands of where are children are, he said. Because of this, education reform needs to happen and needs to happen soon.
"We now have schools across the country where kids from all backgrounds are excelling," he said. "However, these successes have not been seen on a large scale overall."
He discussed the increase in leaders who are lobbying for reform of the educational system. While serving as an advisor to Barack Obama's presidential campaign and a member of the Presidential Transition Team, he noted that the president's commitment to increasing education reform was a main issue.
"The president launched the Race To The Top program, which has the states competing in the largest federal competition in education," he said.
This program has inspired state education systems to adopt new federal and state policies that put our kids first, he said.
"We have uneven standards and expectations in our country and really bad tests to test those standards and expectations," he said.
A coalition of 48 states have come together to develop national education standards through the Race To The Top program, he said.
"I am incredibly hopeful about this fork in the road," he said. "In order to do this, we need a public that is willing to prioritize education for the benefit of our country. Kids can do it when we as adults get it right in our schools," he said.
Schnur has served in many advisory positions, including Obama's presidential campaign and as a senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. He has served as special assistant to Secretary of Education Richard Riley, President Clinton's White House associate director for educational policy, and senior adviser on education to Vice President Al Gore. He developed national educational policies on teacher and principal quality, after-school programs, district reform, charter schools and preschools.
