Your editor will be busy finishing up a project. But you should watch this scene from rapper Saul Williams’ cinematic tour de force, Slam. More than any other movie currently at Sundance (sorry Waiting for Superman), this movie offers some of the most-compelling lessons on the costs paid by children and society for America’s academic and community failures. Watch, think and take action.
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On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I offer a few reasons — and statistics — for why American public education must be reformed. Far too many children are either dropping out or leaving school unprepared for life in the real world. The numbers may shock you — and hopefully, will spur you into action. You [...]
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As a former social worker-turned-teacher, Bill Betzen understands the importance of dealing with the underlying problems that cause children to drop out. For the past five years, at Quintanilla Middle School in Dallas, he is working with two of the Dallas Independent School District’s high schools on boosting their graduation rates through the School Archive [...]
As a filmmaker, Saul Williams is responsible for one of the best visual lessons on staying in school and avoiding crime with Slam, his 1998 masterpiece about a young man who managed to make a way out of no way. But in his main role as hip-hop poet, Saul Williams has crafted more commentary on [...]
As Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Bennett wrangles with a state that has both swiftly addressed some issues (the need for charter schools, for example), but is otherwise comfortable with a status quo that tolerates low graduation rates and woeful academic achievement. Below is a video (courtesy of the Hoosier State’s Department of Education) [...]
RiShawn Biddle/Dropout Nation on Twitter The Dropout Nation Podcast
