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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2001

Speech

Remarks by Reg Weaver, Vice President, National Education Association to the NAACP 4th Biennial Daisy Bates Education Summit

May 18, 2001 - Alexandria, Virginia

Good afternoon! I'm honored to be with you. And I am especially honored to speak at a conference named in honor of Daisy Bates.

I know that this audience is acquainted with the Daisy Bates story: In 1957, Governor Orval Faubus sent soldiers with bayonets to bar the schoolhouse door to Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine. The governor threatened that "blood would flow in the streets" if Daisy persisted. A rock was tossed through her window; it said "Stone this time. Dynamite next."

Daisy Bates refused to be intimidated. With Daisy as their guardian angel, the nine African American school children stood up to insults and physical threats. Together, they prevailed. Together, they struck a mighty blow against segregation.

And the rest of the story? When Daisy Bates died in 1999, her body lay in state under the rotunda of the Arkansas capitol building...it lay in state just a few feet away from the office where Governor Faubus spewed out his threats and venom during the 1957 confrontation. In the end, Daisy Bates was honored by the people of Arkansas and of the United States as a freedom fighter...as a national hero.

So yes, my friends, we honor the memory of Daisy Bates. But we are not here for nostalgia. We are not here to dwell on victories that are now more than four decades old.

Today, we face new challenges...challenges that are, in many ways, even more deeply rooted, even more insidious than those faced by Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine.

The civil rights heroes of the fifties and sixties faced mobs in white hoods. They faced police with attack dogs. They faced soldiers with bayonets. The enemy was out in the open...in broad daylight. The enemy could be confronted in the public square, face to face.

But today, as I said, we are dealing with a more insidious challenge....an entirely different kind of challenge...a challenge that remains hidden, out of the spotlight, in the shadows.

The challenge is this: Jim Crow is dead. By law, segregation in our schools is dead. But the reality is that millions of African American children remain isolated...millions of African American children remain de facto segregated...millions of African American children are receiving an education that is inferior to the education received by most white middle-class children.

So this is the challenge we confront: In the year 2001 -- nearly a half century after Brown v. Board of Education! -- many if not most African American children are receiving a public education that remains separate and unequal.

Less than a mile from this hotel stands T.C. Williams High School. You may have heard of T.C. Williams High. It was featured in the recent Denzel Washington film, "Remember the Titans."

Now, in many ways, T.C. Williams is a terrific school. It has a wonderfully diverse student body that reflects the demographics of Alexandria, Virginia: 43 percent African American, 26 percent Hispanic, 27 percent white, 7 percent Asian. The kids all get along. The kids at T.C. would not tolerate racism of any kind. Racism goes against the entire culture of the school.

At T.C. Williams, many African American students are in the top classes -- honors and advanced placement classes. They graduate from T.C. and go on to some of the best universities in the nation.

But even in this excellent, diverse school, we see the de facto reality of "separate and unequal" education for too many African American students, especially those from disadvantaged, low-income backgrounds.

At T.C. Williams -- and at suburban schools across the country -- children of every race walk through the same front door. But, too often, they walk down different corridors -- and sit in separate classrooms. Too often, African American children find themselves in non-college-bound classes. And in disproportionate numbers, African American students are dropping out before graduating.

So in this suburban community and all across the country, for many African American children, the reality is still this: separate and unequal.

And as we all know, the challenge is even greater in America's cities. In most of our cities, segregation -- not by law but by fact -- remains an ugly, pervasive reality. And many of these segregated schools are in critical condition. Buildings are crumbling and overcrowded. Too many teachers are not properly certified. Student achievement is dismally low.

Now, you know and I know that this is a disaster for our young people. And it is an entirely avoidable disaster. Because we know what it takes to create a great school. It's not a secret, like the Colonel's recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken...it's not hidden away in a bank vault somewhere. The recipe is plain as day. The ingredients are present in tens of thousands of excellent public schools across the country: good teachers, small class sizes in the early grades, high standards and expectations, modern facilities, and all the rest.

Ladies and gentlemen, we know the ingredients of a high-quality public school. But as a nation...as a people...we have chosen not to provide these good schools to all of our children.

Let me give you an example from my own experience. Several years ago, I did an exchange between my students in Harvey, Illinois and students in a public school in a wealthier suburb of Chicago called Naperville. My students saw what the Naperville school had that their own school didn't. They made a list for me. Air conditioning. Lockers that work. Bathrooms that are clean and that work. Security. A gym. A nice cafeteria. No water pipes breaking.

And when the kids finished visiting this terrific school and community, they said to me, "Do we have to go back where we live? Why can't our neighborhood be like this? Why can't our school be like this?"

What do you think happens if you send a kid to a school where there are bullet holes in a window, where the toilets don't work, and where the paint is pealing off the walls? How do you think this makes kids feel about themselves? How do you think it makes parents and neighbors feel about the school?

As I said, we know what a good school looks like. It doesn't matter whether a school is public or private. The best institutions all have the same elements -- beginning with quality teachers.

I believe the task before us is to make sure that all schools have these things in place. Most middle-class children in the United States...most suburban children...attend public schools that range in quality from good to outstanding. When are we going to get serious about providing high-quality public schools to all of our children?

This question is especially urgent today -- and let me tell you why. Here in Virginia and in most other states, public education is entering a harsh new world of high-standards and high-stakes tests.

What are high-stakes tests? Well, if kids don't pass these tests, there are serious consequences. In the years ahead, students in most states will be denied promotion...they will be denied a high-school diploma...if they can't pass the statewide tests.

In some states, including Texas, tens of thousands of children -- overwhelmingly minority children -- are already being denied high school diplomas because of these high-stakes tests.

In fact, Texas illustrates the magnitude of our challenge. Texas has led the nation in setting high standards. The problem is that those high standards have been superimposed on a public education system that is rife with inequalities.

Poor, minority children attending struggling schools in, say, Dallas, are held to exactly the same standards as affluent children attending super-high-quality public schools in Austin. In short, in Texas and in so many other places, we have one-size-fits-all standards in a world of savage inequalities. And the consequences have been devastating.

In Texas, the dropout and attrition rate for African American and Hispanic students has soared to nearly 50 percent. These numbers are shocking. And needless to say, they make a mockery of politicians who say their policies are designed to "leave no child behind."

Now don't misunderstand me. I support high standards. If done right, standards-based reform is great. After all, it is high time that America committed itself to educating all children - rich and poor...black, white, and brown - to high standards.

The problem is that standards-based reform is not being done in a way that is smart or fair.

It is being implemented in a haphazard manner, with poor alignment of standards, curriculum, and testing.

It is being rushed into place without adequate preparation or professional development for teachers and other school staff.

And worst of all, it is being done on the cheap. The same politicians who talk so tough about testing a standards are AWOL when it comes to equalizing funding...they are AWOL when it comes to providing the extra resources and interventions to give every child - including disadvantaged children - a fighting chance to succeed.

The upshot is this...and I must speak bluntly: In today's world of high-stakes tests, millions of African-American children, especially in urban schools, are being set up to fail.

And let's be clear: It is morally wrong to threaten those kids with tests and to deny them diplomas unless we are willing to give them the good schools and quality teachers they need in order to succeed.

And on that score, we've got our work cut out for us. Because the politicians in most state capitals and in Washington, D.C. are failing us. You know, I've got a simple rule for judging politicians: Watch what they do, not what they say.

Now, George W. Bush built a good record of commitment to public education as governor of Texas. To his credit, he sent his twin daughters to public schools - terrific public schools in Austin, Texas. But so far in Washington, he is flunking the test.

He's talking tough about tests, tests, tests. And he says he wants to improve public education for all children. But watch what he is doing, not what he is saying.

What is he doing? He proposed a whopper $1.6 trillion tax cut, with most of the benefits going to you know who.

Consider this one simple fact - it says it all: In the President's original budget plan submitted to Congress, the share of the surplus devoted to tax cuts was 40 times greater than the share devoted to public education.

The President says "leave no child behind." But his tax cuts and lack of investment in public education are going to leave millions of children behind - especially children of disadvantage and poverty.

What is the answer to the low-performing schools that so many African-American children attend, especially in urban America?

Some folks -- especially folks on the political right -- say the answer is vouchers. They say that vouchers will give "choice" to inner-city parents.

But this is a cruel lie.

Parents have no choice when a voucher is worth a couple thousand dollars, and private school tuition is five to 15 thousand dollars.

Parents have no choice when the private school admissions committee says, "Sorry, your child would not be 'appropriate' for our school."

Parents have no choice when private and parochial schools already have long waiting lists -- or when private schools refuse to take any voucher children, who tend to be African-American or other minorities.

Case in point: Florida. Florida has the first statewide voucher program in the nation. But despite arm-twisting by Governor Jeb Bush, nearly 93 percent of private and parochial schools in Florida have refused to accept any voucher students. They have slammed their doors!

So at the risk of offending some folks, I've got to state what is probably obvious to most of us in this room. What is the real agenda of the conservative ideologues who are pushing vouchers? These are the same folks who, for years, have been hell-bent to slash the school lunch program...hell-bent to kill Head Start and Title 1....hell-bent to shred the safety net....hell-bent to end affirmative action.

Excuse me, but since when did these folks give a darn about poor black children?

Is it possible -- just remotely possible -- their real agenda with vouchers has nothing to do with helping inner-city parents and kids...and everything to do with undermining the quote-unquote "government" schools that these folks hate with such a passion?

Now, some other conservative voices have said that the key to boosting public schools is to display the Ten Commandments in a prominent place in each school building.

To which I say.....no, no, I'll hold my tongue. And instead, I'll offer my own Ten Commandments. Reg Weaver's Ten Commandments! You want public education to be great in this country? Then try following these:

Commandment Number One: Thou shalt not pretend to reform schools by passing some bogus Ten Commandments law that will most likely be declared unconstitutional.

Commandment Number Two: Thou shalt not say that children are America's top priority when 20 percent of America's children live in poverty, 15 percent have no health insurance, and 13 children are killed by gunfire every single day.

Commandment Number Three: Thou shalt recognize that only public education has the potential to provide each and every child in America with a quality education, and therefore, thou shalt not abandon public schools, but redeem and enhance them.

Commandment Number Four: Thou shalt not spend more money on prisons than on schools. The more quality schools you have, the fewer prisons you'll need.

Commandment Number Five: Thou shalt not kid thyself that paying starting teachers $20,000 a year is any way to attract and retain the best and the brightest educators for our kids. Thou shalt support future teachers - not insult them.

Commandment Number Six: Thou shalt respect every child as precious and capable of learning - regardless of their background - and treat them as the valuable natural resource that they are.

Commandment Number Seven: Thou shalt not bash teachers - especially when thou has not been in a classroom thyself for the last 35 years.

Commandment Number Eight: Thou shalt honor not only teachers, but the people who drive the buses, clean the hallways, serve the lunches, counsel the students, take the attendance, nurse the injured, assist in the classrooms, and run our nation's schools with dignity and dedication and grace.

Commandment Number Nine: Thou shalt recognize that quality education requires everybody in the education community to work together cooperatively - from retired teachers to new administrators to parents - and engage them accordingly.

And finally, Commandment Number Ten: Thou shalt remember that public education must always be an immediate priority and a long-term investment. Schools must not be subjected to quick fixes or get-rich-quick schemes.

And what the heck. Let me add an Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not determine a student's entire future by the results of a single ultra-high stakes test -- especially if that test is inherently flawed and unfair!

And a Twelfth Commandment! Why not? Commandment Number Twelve: Thou shalt not establish a whole new set of standards for schools without aligning them with the curriculum! Or, without aligning them with the tests! Or without any input from the teachers who are actually going to have to teach them! And thou shalt certainly not hold schools accountable to these standards without giving them the help and the resources they need to meet them!

Now those are Twelve Commandments that will make a truly extraordinary difference for children all across America!

My friends, we need real solutions. I am proud to tell you that the National Education Association has made a major commitment to low-performing schools. We are determined to play a major role -- as a partner, and where necessary as a leader -- in lifting up these schools.

Already we have published a step-by-step handbook to guide local educators through the school-rescue process. And we are ramping up to train NEA activists who will jump-start initiatives in each of their local school districts.

But I've got to be honest. The million bucks that NEA has allocated to these initiatives is a relative drop in the bucket. We also need across-the-board commitment from business leaders, civic leaders, and from grass-roots national organizations like the NAACP.

I know that you folks support public education. But it is not enough to support public schools in the abstract. We need engagement. We need local branches of the NAACP to be directly, personally involved in building support for public education...recruiting minority teachers...volunteering in the schools....organizing folks to mentor teenagers and troubled youth...and so much more.

Public schools do not exist for adults - to give us jobs and pensions. Public schools exist for the children.

Likewise, for you as civil rights activists and leaders, your most important constituents - ultimately -- are children and young people. They are so needy, so fragile. And for all of us in this room, their needs must be our most urgent focus and mission.

To that end, in the words of Dr. King, I ask you to be "divinely dissatisfied."

I ask you to be divinely dissatisfied with ideologues and profiteers who try to exploit our children.

I ask you to be divinely dissatisfied with the appalling scarcity of black women -- and especially black men -- entering the teaching profession.

I ask you to be divinely dissatisfied with schools that do not expect the best...and offer the best...and produce the best in every one of our children.

We at NEA are committed to fundamental change in public education. Teachers can't transform public schools all by themselves. But we can - "we" being educators plus all the talented, resourceful folks represented in this room today.

We owe it to the children. These kids desperately need adults who believe in them.

There's a student I know named Malik. He comes from a tough background, a background of extreme neglect. One day, the teachers in Malik's class had the students go around and say what they wanted to be when they grew up. Some kids said they wanted to be doctors. Some kids said they wanted to be movie stars or football players. But when the teacher asked Malik what he wanted to be, he said, "I want to be possible."

"What do you mean?" the teacher asked.

"Well," said Malik, "My mother says that I'm 'impossible.'"

Doesn't that break your heart? No kid deserves to have that kind of negative self-esteem. No kids deserves to be set up for failure the way Malik has.

My brothers and sisters, it is our task to make sure that every African-American child -- every child, period -- is "possible"....is full of possibilities.

Let us communicate to our children a powerful message of hope and possibility in their lives.

Let us insist on schools that ensure every child's civil right to a quality public education.

Let us insist on schools that respect every child as worthy, responsible, and capable of ambitious learning.

Thank you.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.6 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.