The Norfolk Foundation and the Economics Club of Hampton Roads hosted a Community Matters Luncheon on October 28th with Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), also a Hampton University graduate.
Dr. Hrabowski:
The business community understands and appreciates the connection with pre K-20 education and success as a region.
Thomas Friedman, of “Hot, Flat and Crowded” book fame, recently spoke at UMBC and drove home these points: global warming is real, we’re in an energy crisis and demographics is an even bigger issue. And, then he asked, how do we find the resources to deal with this?
At the base of each of these issues is quality education. We measure progress in higher education attainment in ten-year time spans, and every ten years, we are making progress. However, still today, 70% of whites, 80% of blacks, and 90% of Hispanics, the fastest growing demographic in the U.S., do not have a college degree.
Historically, there have been plenty of jobs available for people without degrees. But, with technological advances today and in the future, we’re not prepared. Americans (39%) and Canadians (41%) are the most educated people in the world today in the 35-65 age group. However, in the 25-35 age group, the U.S. has dropped from #2 in the world to #7. China, India and other developing countries have focused their emphasis on education to build their economies.
Case in point, there are: 1.3 Billion Chinese, 1.1 Billion Indians, totaling 2.4 Billion. Using simple math, they have almost more geniuses (top 10% of their population equates to 240 Million) than the U.S. has people (300 Million).
The U.S. needs innovation in education that seeds critical thinking in students. There is a stark achievement gap between our best students and the best in other countries. We must knock down boundaries, discuss the problems and build trust to lead people to ask the right questions.
Instead of asking your child, “What did you learn in school today?” ask, “Did you ask a good question today?”
We are at a crossroads in this country. Unhealthy communities have schools that are heavily minority, poor white and not doing well in addition to middle to upper middle class schools that are doing well. Healthy communities attack the problems by not placing blame and treating all schools equally.
Emphasize to your kids to read, and to read critically! Even math involves solving word problems. Children need to develop a “sense of self.” We must instill value in wanting to be smart. Our culture today reinforces to kids that it’s not cool to be smart, unlike the countries that are bypassing us on the educational front.
Without an education, regardless of sex, race or social status, the future is not very bright for a child today. We must prepare our kids to “know what they know they don’t know.”
If we’re not careful, technology will rule us, rather than we rule technology.
Chicago’s O’Hare Airport is a metaphor for the 21st century. If you can’t read well, follow complex directions and problem solve, you are lost.
To do what we must do to succeed, we must develop and engage in problem-solving both sides of the brain. The book, “A Whole New Mind,” emphasizes this dilemma. Left brain thinking got us to the technology-based world we live in today. And, our future will rely on right brain thinking, too.
We are an instant gratification culture; we want solutions at the snap of a finger. And, that’s not always possible. Sometimes you have to think about the solution, offering this word problem as an example:
This is a 6th grade classroom.
There are 29 kids.
There are 20 dogs and 15 cats owned.
How many kids have both a cat and a dog?
The most important math for high school students is not calculus, it is statistics and probability. Perhaps if we’d been teaching that, we might not have had our recent home financing problems.
Virginia has a great strength in its deep sense of education that’s hundreds of years old. The challenge today is to believe in our children and have them believe in themselves. Kids need to see the relationship between goals and expectations. They’re bored in today’s classrooms. We’re in a 21st century technology-driven world, and we have an educational system developed around a 19th century world. We need to bring dynamics to the classroom with more emphasis on and more infusion of creativity to get kids to “connect.”
On the other hand, too much blame is placed on teachers for “teaching to the test.” They’ve not been trained any differently, and parents are not spending enough time teaching their own kids by working on homework with them. Children must be taught to think, to get beyond routine problems in order to deal with life, not just math.
Hampton Roads, I leave you with this challenge: Build on your strengths and create excitement for the idea of education. Say something good every day about this place and to a child.
Thoughts become words.
Words become actions.
Actions become habits.
Habits become character.
Character becomes your destiny.
See Angelica Light, The Norfolk Foundation President and CEO, interview Dr. Freeman Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, before the event:
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that a higher percentage of Hampton Roads residents have health insurance than the U.S. population. Only 11% of civilian residents in the Hampton Roads MSA lacked health insurance in 2008, compared with 15% of the population nationwide, the bureau said in its latest 
