The CBS 60 Minutes programme carried a film this week about inner city regeneration in Harlem, and how thousands of kids who live in poverty are being given the chance of a better life and a good education. Click HERE to read the New York Times story. You can also see the CBS NEws video on the same page. I was alerted to this by my friend Daniel Forrester who runs a Blog on change agents in government. He says: "A change agent to end all change agents in a story about challenging the norms of school and education. And doing so with 1 square mile of land in Harlem to prove the model. This could be any school in America. Watch the video and read the transcript it will give you hope - lots of hope."
Thursday, May 18, 2006
How to Improve the Inner Cities - A Lesson Fom Harlem
The CBS 60 Minutes programme carried a film this week about inner city regeneration in Harlem, and how thousands of kids who live in poverty are being given the chance of a better life and a good education. Click HERE to read the New York Times story. You can also see the CBS NEws video on the same page. I was alerted to this by my friend Daniel Forrester who runs a Blog on change agents in government. He says: "A change agent to end all change agents in a story about challenging the norms of school and education. And doing so with 1 square mile of land in Harlem to prove the model. This could be any school in America. Watch the video and read the transcript it will give you hope - lots of hope."
I have a better but far less politically correct idea for improving places like Harlem, Chicago, Harlesden or Brixton, build a large wall round them and then throw lots of guns and ammunition in.
ReplyDeleteYou know? It would be worth buying every MP and every bureaucrat in the Dept of Ed a ticket to New York just so they could see what can be done with a dream, freedom from interference, a lot of faith and work. This man, his idea and those kids are a beacon for all who despair about education.
ReplyDeleteSadly I fear the message would be wasted on the unholy collection of control freaks and selfish vested interests that run the state education system.
Let anyone read that article and say the private sector cannot do better than the state and I'll show you a moron. Rather than closing the private schools, we need to turn every state school into a private establishment. Implement school vouchers now!
RM
Wasn't Jack Kemp involved in this sort of business? How I wish he had won the VP slot whern on the Dole ticket and then moved on to thejob a bit further down the line.
ReplyDeleteCroydonian, I couldn't agree with you more. I too hoped Kemp would make it to the White House. Bizarrely he reminds me of President Jeb Bartlett!
ReplyDelete