0:00:00.765,0:00:04.274
I'm a little nervous, because my wife Yvonne said to me,

0:00:04.274,0:00:06.443
she said, "Geoff, you watch the TED Talks."

0:00:06.443,0:00:08.379
I said, "Yes, honey, I love TED Talks."

0:00:08.379,0:00:11.867
She said, "You know, they're like, really smart, talented -- "

0:00:11.867,0:00:13.610
I said, "I know, I know." (Laughter)

0:00:13.610,0:00:18.402
She said, "They don't want, like, the angry black man."

0:00:18.402,0:00:20.355
(Laughter)

0:00:20.355,0:00:21.966
So I said, "No, I'm gonna be good, Honey,

0:00:21.966,0:00:24.021
I'm gonna be good. I am."

0:00:24.021,0:00:27.439
But I am angry. (Laughter)

0:00:27.439,0:00:31.145
And the last time I looked, I'm --

0:00:31.145,0:00:33.952
(Applause)

0:00:33.952,0:00:39.380
So this is why I'm excited but I'm angry.

0:00:39.380,0:00:44.299
This year, there are going to be millions of our children

0:00:44.299,0:00:47.263
that we're going to needlessly lose,

0:00:47.263,0:00:51.853
that we could -- right now, we could save them all.

0:00:51.853,0:00:55.698
You saw the quality of the educators who were here.

0:00:55.698,0:00:59.035
Do not tell me they could not reach those kids

0:00:59.035,0:01:01.306
and save them. I know they could.

0:01:01.306,0:01:04.167
It is absolutely possible.

0:01:04.167,0:01:06.550
Why haven't we fixed this?

0:01:06.550,0:01:11.314
Those of us in education have held on to a business plan

0:01:11.314,0:01:15.169
that we don't care how many millions of young people fail,

0:01:15.169,0:01:18.264
we're going to continue to do the same thing that didn't work,

0:01:18.264,0:01:23.207
and nobody is getting crazy about it -- right? --

0:01:23.207,0:01:25.352
enough to say, "Enough is enough."

0:01:25.352,0:01:29.736
So here's a business plan that simply does not make any sense.

0:01:29.736,0:01:33.096
You know, I grew up in the inner city,

0:01:33.096,0:01:37.983
and there were kids who were failing

0:01:37.983,0:01:44.517
in schools 56 years ago when I first went to school,

0:01:44.517,0:01:51.291
and those schools are still lousy today, 56 years later.

0:01:51.291,0:01:53.275
And you know something about a lousy school?

0:01:53.275,0:01:55.891
It's not like a bottle of wine.

0:01:55.891,0:01:57.202
Right? (Laughter)

0:01:57.202,0:02:00.980
Where you say, like, '87 was like a good year, right?

0:02:00.980,0:02:04.096
That's now how this thing -- I mean, every single year,

0:02:04.096,0:02:06.502
it's still the same approach, right?

0:02:06.502,0:02:11.046
One size fits all, if you get it, fine, and if you don't,

0:02:11.061,0:02:14.721
tough luck. Just tough luck.

0:02:14.721,0:02:17.666
Why haven't we allowed innovation to happen?

0:02:17.666,0:02:20.131
Do not tell me we can't do better than this.

0:02:20.131,0:02:25.596
Look, you go into a place that's failed kids for 50 years,

0:02:25.596,0:02:28.060
and you say, "So what's the plan?"

0:02:28.060,0:02:30.164
And they say, "We'll, we're going to do

0:02:30.164,0:02:33.180
what we did last year this year."

0:02:33.180,0:02:35.983
What kind of business model is that?

0:02:35.983,0:02:41.961
Banks used to open and operate between 10 and 3.

0:02:41.961,0:02:47.074
They operated 10 to 3. They were closed for lunch hour.

0:02:47.074,0:02:52.007
Now, who can bank between 10 and 3? The unemployed.

0:02:52.007,0:02:55.395
They don't need banks. They got no money in the banks.

0:02:55.395,0:02:58.781
Who created that business model? Right?

0:02:58.781,0:03:00.894
And it went on for decades.

0:03:00.894,0:03:02.809
You know why? Because they didn't care.

0:03:02.809,0:03:04.793
It wasn't about the customers.

0:03:04.793,0:03:10.311
It was about bankers. They created something that worked for them.

0:03:10.311,0:03:12.390
How could you go to the bank

0:03:12.390,0:03:14.799
when you were at work? It didn't matter.

0:03:14.799,0:03:17.422
And they don't care whether or not Geoff is upset

0:03:17.422,0:03:20.011
he can't go to the bank. Go find another bank.

0:03:20.011,0:03:23.449
They all operate the same way. Right?

0:03:23.449,0:03:27.312
Now, one day, some crazy banker had an idea.

0:03:27.312,0:03:31.289
Maybe we should keep the bank open when people come home from work.

0:03:31.289,0:03:34.416
They might like that. What about a Saturday?

0:03:34.416,0:03:37.384
What about introducing technology?

0:03:37.384,0:03:39.603
Now look, I'm a technology fan, but I have to admit

0:03:39.603,0:03:41.944
to you all I'm a little old.

0:03:41.944,0:03:44.897
So I was a little slow, and I did not trust technology,

0:03:44.897,0:03:48.795
and when they first came out with those new contraptions,

0:03:48.795,0:03:52.465
these tellers that you put in a card and they give you money,

0:03:52.465,0:03:56.080
I was like, "There's no way that machine is going to count that money right.

0:03:56.080,0:03:58.428
I am never using that, right?"

0:03:58.428,0:04:04.363
So technology has changed. Things have changed.

0:04:04.363,0:04:07.049
Yet not in education. Why?

0:04:07.049,0:04:12.009
Why is it that when we had rotary phones,

0:04:12.009,0:04:16.320
when we were having folks being crippled by polio,

0:04:16.320,0:04:19.417
that we were teaching

0:04:19.417,0:04:21.672
the same way then that we're doing right now?

0:04:21.672,0:04:26.080
And if you come up with a plan to change things,

0:04:26.080,0:04:28.341
people consider you radical.

0:04:28.341,0:04:30.732
They will say the worst things about you.

0:04:30.732,0:04:34.624
I said one day, well, look, if the science says --

0:04:34.624,0:04:38.283
this is science, not me -- that our poorest children

0:04:38.283,0:04:41.593
lose ground in the summertime --

0:04:41.593,0:04:43.695
You see where they are in June and say, okay, they're there.

0:04:43.695,0:04:46.372
You look at them in September, they've gone down.

0:04:46.372,0:04:50.588
You say, whoo! So I heard about that in '75

0:04:50.588,0:04:52.219
when I was at the Ed School at Harvard.

0:04:52.219,0:04:55.109
I said, "Oh, wow, this is an important study."

0:04:55.109,0:04:59.119
Because it suggests we should do something.

0:04:59.119,0:05:02.684
(Laughter)

0:05:02.684,0:05:05.788
Every 10 years they reproduce the same study.

0:05:05.788,0:05:07.411
It says exactly the same thing:

0:05:07.411,0:05:09.677
Poor kids lose ground in the summertime.

0:05:09.677,0:05:14.510
The system decides you can't run schools in the summer.

0:05:14.510,0:05:17.736
You know, I always wonder, who makes up those rules?

0:05:17.736,0:05:20.307
For years I went to -- Look, I went the Harvard Ed School.

0:05:20.307,0:05:21.415
I thought I knew something.

0:05:21.415,0:05:24.496
They said it was the agrarian calendar, and people had —

0:05:24.496,0:05:26.078
but let me tell you why that doesn't make sense.

0:05:26.078,0:05:29.360
I never got that. I never got that,

0:05:29.360,0:05:31.512
because anyone knows if you farm,

0:05:31.512,0:05:34.587
you don't plant crops in July and August.

0:05:34.587,0:05:37.336
You plant them in the spring.

0:05:37.336,0:05:41.105
So who came up with this idea? Who owns it?

0:05:41.105,0:05:42.788
Why did we ever do it?

0:05:42.788,0:05:45.086
Well it just turns out in the 1840s we did have,

0:05:45.086,0:05:48.064
schools were open all year. They were open all year,

0:05:48.064,0:05:51.088
because we had a lot of folks who had to work all day.

0:05:51.088,0:05:52.435
They didn't have any place for their kids to go.

0:05:52.435,0:05:54.469
It was a perfect place to have schools.

0:05:54.469,0:05:57.360
So this is not something that is ordained

0:05:57.360,0:06:00.354
from the education gods.

0:06:00.354,0:06:02.530
So why don't we? Why don't we?

0:06:02.530,0:06:08.480
Because our business has refused to use science.

0:06:08.480,0:06:11.492
Science. You have Bill Gates coming out and saying,

0:06:11.492,0:06:14.592
"Look, this works, right? We can do this."

0:06:14.592,0:06:19.741
How many places in America are going to change? None.

0:06:19.741,0:06:22.453
None. Okay, yeah, there are two. All right?

0:06:22.453,0:06:27.239
Yes, there'll be some place, because some folks will do the right thing.

0:06:27.239,0:06:31.784
As a profession, we have to stop this. The science is clear.

0:06:31.784,0:06:34.079
Here's what we know.

0:06:34.079,0:06:40.054
We know that the problem begins immediately.

0:06:40.054,0:06:43.963
Right? This idea, zero to three.

0:06:43.963,0:06:46.449
My wife, Yvonne, and I, we have four kids,

0:06:46.449,0:06:49.956
three grown ones and a 15-year-old.

0:06:49.956,0:06:51.443
That's a longer story.

0:06:51.443,0:06:53.092
(Laughter)

0:06:53.092,0:06:56.171
With our first kids, we did not know the science

0:06:56.171,0:06:58.011
about brain development.

0:06:58.011,0:07:00.625
We didn't know how critical those first three years were.

0:07:00.625,0:07:03.039
We didn't know what was happening in those young brains.

0:07:03.039,0:07:05.593
We didn't know the role that language,

0:07:05.593,0:07:08.484
a stimulus and response, call and response,

0:07:08.484,0:07:11.113
how important that was in developing those children.

0:07:11.113,0:07:15.978
We know that now. What are we doing about it? Nothing.

0:07:15.978,0:07:20.074
Wealthy people know. Educated people know.

0:07:20.074,0:07:21.744
And their kids have an advantage.

0:07:21.744,0:07:23.331
Poor people don't know,

0:07:23.331,0:07:26.335
and we're not doing anything to help them at all.

0:07:26.335,0:07:27.680
But we know this is critical.

0:07:27.680,0:07:31.410
Now, you take pre-kindergarten.

0:07:31.410,0:07:33.480
We know it's important for kids.

0:07:33.480,0:07:36.854
Poor kids need that experience.

0:07:36.854,0:07:41.783
Nope. Lots of places, it doesn't exist.

0:07:41.783,0:07:44.331
We know health services matter.

0:07:44.331,0:07:45.928
You know, we provide health services

0:07:45.928,0:07:48.867
and people are always fussing at me about, you know,

0:07:48.867,0:07:52.782
because I'm all into accountability and data

0:07:52.782,0:07:55.976
and all of that good stuff, but we do health services,

0:07:55.976,0:07:57.217
and I have to raise a lot of money.

0:07:57.217,0:07:59.034
People used to say when they'd come fund us,

0:07:59.034,0:08:01.813
"Geoff, why do you provide these health services?"

0:08:01.813,0:08:03.922
I used to make stuff up. Right?

0:08:03.922,0:08:06.473
I'd say, "Well, you know a child

0:08:06.473,0:08:10.226
who has cavities is not going to, uh,

0:08:10.226,0:08:12.286
be able to study as well."

0:08:12.286,0:08:16.291
And I had to because I had to raise the money.

0:08:16.291,0:08:18.843
But now I'm older, and you know what I tell them?

0:08:18.843,0:08:21.585
You know why I provide kids with those health benefits

0:08:21.585,0:08:23.525
and the sports and the recreation and the arts?

0:08:23.525,0:08:27.019
Because I actually like kids.

0:08:27.019,0:08:32.380
I actually like kids. (Laughter) (Applause)

0:08:32.380,0:08:35.555
But when they really get pushy, people really get pushy,

0:08:35.555,0:08:38.651
I say, "I do it because you do it for your kid."

0:08:38.651,0:08:41.643
And you've never read a study from MIT that says

0:08:41.643,0:08:44.619
giving your kid dance instruction

0:08:44.619,0:08:47.536
is going to help them do algebra better,

0:08:47.536,0:08:49.611
but you will give that kid dance instruction,

0:08:49.611,0:08:53.124
and you will be thrilled that that kid wants to do dance instruction,

0:08:53.124,0:08:56.445
and it will make your day. And why shouldn't poor kids

0:08:56.445,0:09:01.999
have the same opportunity? It's the floor for these children.

0:09:01.999,0:09:04.701
(Applause)

0:09:04.701,0:09:07.673
So here's the other thing.

0:09:07.673,0:09:11.540
I'm a tester guy. I believe you need data, you need information,

0:09:11.540,0:09:13.705
because you work at something, you think it's working,

0:09:13.705,0:09:16.442
and you find out it's not working.

0:09:16.442,0:09:18.308
I mean, you're educators. You work, you say,

0:09:18.308,0:09:21.353
you think you've got it, great, no? And you find out they didn't get it.

0:09:21.353,0:09:23.922
But here's the problem with testing.

0:09:23.922,0:09:26.187
The testing that we do --

0:09:26.187,0:09:28.906
we're going to have our test in New York next week —

0:09:28.906,0:09:30.861
is in April.

0:09:30.861,0:09:33.787
You know when we're going to get the results back?

0:09:33.787,0:09:36.954
Maybe July, maybe June.

0:09:36.954,0:09:39.762
And the results have great data.

0:09:39.762,0:09:42.839
They'll tell you Raheem really struggled,

0:09:42.839,0:09:46.217
couldn't do two-digit multiplication -- so great data,

0:09:46.217,0:09:48.746
but you're getting it back after school is over.

0:09:48.746,0:09:51.229
And so, what do you do?

0:09:51.229,0:09:54.431
You go on vacation. (Laughter)

0:09:54.431,0:09:55.766
You come back from vacation.

0:09:55.766,0:10:01.216
Now you've got all of this test data from last year.

0:10:01.216,0:10:03.569
You don't look at it.

0:10:03.569,0:10:05.832
Why would you look at it?

0:10:05.832,0:10:07.991
You're going to go and teach this year.

0:10:07.991,0:10:11.243
So how much money did we just spend on all of that?

0:10:11.243,0:10:14.246
Billions and billions of dollars

0:10:14.246,0:10:17.303
for data that it's too late to use.

0:10:17.303,0:10:19.129
I need that data in September.

0:10:19.129,0:10:20.900
I need that data in November.

0:10:20.900,0:10:22.908
I need to know you're struggling, and I need to know

0:10:22.908,0:10:25.293
whether or not what I did corrected that.

0:10:25.293,0:10:27.274
I need to know that this week.

0:10:27.274,0:10:30.853
I don't need to know that at the end of the year when it's too late.

0:10:30.853,0:10:36.043
Because in my older years, I've become somewhat of a clairvoyant.

0:10:36.043,0:10:39.266
I can predict school scores.

0:10:39.266,0:10:41.311
You take me to any school.

0:10:41.311,0:10:44.369
I'm really good at inner city schools that are struggling.

0:10:44.369,0:10:48.184
And you tell me last year 48 percent of those kids

0:10:48.184,0:10:50.791
were on grade level.

0:10:50.791,0:10:52.685
And I say, "Okay, what's the plan, what did we do

0:10:52.685,0:10:53.634
from last year to this year?"

0:10:53.634,0:10:55.449
You say, "We're doing the same thing."

0:10:55.449,0:10:58.204
I'm going to make a prediction. (Laughter)

0:10:58.204,0:11:01.370
This year, somewhere between 44

0:11:01.370,0:11:04.265
and 52 percent of those kids will be on grade level.

0:11:04.265,0:11:07.840
And I will be right every single time.

0:11:07.840,0:11:12.229
So we're spending all of this money, but we're getting what?

0:11:12.229,0:11:14.821
Teachers need real information right now

0:11:14.821,0:11:16.410
about what's happening to their kids.

0:11:16.410,0:11:21.803
The high stakes is today, because you can do something about it.

0:11:21.803,0:11:26.637
So here's the other issue that I just think

0:11:26.637,0:11:29.445
we've got to be concerned about.

0:11:29.445,0:11:33.725
We can't stifle innovation in our business.

0:11:33.725,0:11:37.618
We have to innovate. And people in our business get mad about innovation.

0:11:37.618,0:11:39.605
They get angry if you do something different.

0:11:39.605,0:11:41.382
If you try something new, people are always like,

0:11:41.382,0:11:45.879
"Ooh, charter schools." Hey, let's try some stuff. Let's see.

0:11:45.879,0:11:48.240
This stuff hasn't worked for 55 years.

0:11:48.240,0:11:51.311
Let's try something different. And here's the rub.

0:11:51.311,0:11:53.403
Some of it's not going to work.

0:11:53.403,0:11:56.141
You know, people tell me, "Yeah, those charter schools, a lot of them don't work."

0:11:56.141,0:11:59.609
A lot of them don't. They should be closed.

0:11:59.609,0:12:01.515
I mean, I really believe they should be closed.

0:12:01.515,0:12:05.824
But we can't confuse figuring out the science

0:12:05.824,0:12:10.600
and things not working with we shouldn't therefore do anything.

0:12:10.600,0:12:12.502
Right? Because that's not the way the world works.

0:12:12.502,0:12:14.008
If you think about technology,

0:12:14.008,0:12:16.522
imagine if that's how we thought about technology.

0:12:16.522,0:12:17.819
Every time something didn't work,

0:12:17.819,0:12:20.365
we just threw in the towel and said, "Let's forget it." Right?

0:12:20.365,0:12:23.534
You know, they convinced me. I'm sure some of you were like me --

0:12:23.534,0:12:28.059
the latest and greatest thing, the PalmPilot.

0:12:28.059,0:12:30.538
They told me, "Geoff, if you get this PalmPilot

0:12:30.538,0:12:32.491
you'll never need another thing."

0:12:32.491,0:12:36.932
That thing lasted all of three weeks. It was over.

0:12:36.932,0:12:40.691
I was so disgusted I spent my money on this thing.

0:12:40.691,0:12:46.608
Did anybody stop inventing? Not a person. Not a soul.

0:12:46.608,0:12:49.112
The folks went out there. They kept inventing.

0:12:49.112,0:12:52.222
The fact that you have failure, that shouldn't stop you

0:12:52.222,0:12:55.108
from pushing the science forward.

0:12:55.108,0:12:57.280
Our job as educators,

0:12:57.280,0:12:59.745
there's some stuff we know that we can do.

0:12:59.745,0:13:03.724
And we've got to do better. The evaluation, we have to start with kids earlier,

0:13:03.724,0:13:06.648
we have to make sure that we provide the support to young people.

0:13:06.648,0:13:09.056
We've got to give them all of these opportunities.

0:13:09.056,0:13:12.372
So that we have to do. But this innovation issue,

0:13:12.372,0:13:16.164
this idea that we've got to keep innovating

0:13:16.164,0:13:19.088
until we really nail this science down

0:13:19.088,0:13:21.296
is something that is absolutely critical.

0:13:21.296,0:13:23.520
And this is something, by the way,

0:13:23.520,0:13:27.055
that I think is going to be a challenge for our entire field.

0:13:27.055,0:13:32.334
America cannot wait another 50 years to get this right.

0:13:32.334,0:13:35.003
We have run out of time.

0:13:35.003,0:13:38.091
I don't know about a fiscal cliff, but I know there's an educational cliff

0:13:38.091,0:13:41.544
that we are walking over right this very second,

0:13:41.544,0:13:45.984
and if we allow folks to continue this foolishness

0:13:45.984,0:13:48.946
about saying we can't afford this —

0:13:48.946,0:13:51.192
So Bill Gates says it's going to cost five billion dollars.

0:13:51.192,0:13:53.752
What is five billion dollars to the United States?

0:13:53.752,0:13:56.425
What did we spend in Afghanistan this year?

0:13:56.425,0:14:00.392
How many trillions? (Applause)

0:14:00.392,0:14:03.416
When the country cares about something,

0:14:03.416,0:14:07.065
we'll spend a trillion dollars without blinking an eye.

0:14:07.065,0:14:10.009
When the safety of America is threatened,

0:14:10.009,0:14:12.880
we will spend any amount of money.

0:14:12.880,0:14:15.936
The real safety of our nation

0:14:15.936,0:14:18.313
is preparing this next generation

0:14:18.313,0:14:20.552
so that they can take our place

0:14:20.552,0:14:24.739
and be the leaders of the world

0:14:24.739,0:14:27.936
when it comes to thinking and technology and democracy

0:14:27.936,0:14:30.313
and all that stuff we care about.

0:14:30.313,0:14:34.858
I dare say it's a pittance,

0:14:34.858,0:14:38.543
what it would require for us to really

0:14:38.543,0:14:40.791
begin to solve some of these problems.

0:14:40.791,0:14:46.180
So once we do that, I'll no longer be angry. (Laughter)

0:14:46.180,0:14:51.975
So, you guys, help me get there.

0:14:51.975,0:14:54.304
Thank you all very much. Thank you.

0:14:54.304,0:15:03.627
(Applause)

0:15:03.627,0:15:07.835
John Legend: So what is the high school dropout rate at Harlem Children's Zone?

0:15:07.835,0:15:09.302
Geoffrey Canada: Well, you know, John,

0:15:09.302,0:15:11.625
100 percent of our kids graduated high school

0:15:11.625,0:15:12.776
last year in my school.

0:15:12.776,0:15:14.244
A hundred percent of them went to college.

0:15:14.244,0:15:17.634
This year's seniors will have 100 percent graduating high school.

0:15:17.634,0:15:20.696
Last I heard we had 93 percent accepted to college.

0:15:20.696,0:15:23.310
We'd better get that other seven percent.

0:15:23.310,0:15:30.005
So that's just how this goes. (Applause)

0:15:30.005,0:15:32.598
JL: So how do you stick with them after they leave high school?

0:15:32.598,0:15:35.187
GC: Well, you know, one of the bad problems

0:15:35.187,0:15:37.629
we have in this country is these kids, the same kids,

0:15:37.629,0:15:39.558
these same vulnerable kids, when you get them in school,

0:15:39.558,0:15:40.900
they drop out in record numbers.

0:15:40.900,0:15:44.565
And so we've figured out that you've got to really design

0:15:44.565,0:15:47.989
a network of support for these kids that in many ways

0:15:47.989,0:15:50.454
mimics what a good parent does.

0:15:50.454,0:15:53.551
They harass you, right? They call you, they say,

0:15:53.551,0:15:55.662
"I want to see your grades. How'd you do on that last test?

0:15:55.662,0:15:58.625
What are you talking about that you want to leave school?

0:15:58.625,0:15:59.915
And you're not coming back here."

0:15:59.915,0:16:02.170
So a bunch of my kids know you can't come back to Harlem

0:16:02.170,0:16:03.501
because Geoff is looking for you.

0:16:03.501,0:16:06.804
They're like, "I really can't come back." No. You'd better stay in school.

0:16:06.804,0:16:09.630
But I'm not kidding about some of this,

0:16:09.630,0:16:11.426
and it gets a little bit to the grit issue.

0:16:11.426,0:16:15.620
When kids know that you refuse to let them fail,

0:16:15.620,0:16:17.524
it puts a different pressure on them,

0:16:17.524,0:16:19.212
and they don't give up as easy.

0:16:19.212,0:16:21.654
So sometimes they don't have it inside,

0:16:21.654,0:16:23.700
and they're, like, "You know, I don't want to do this,

0:16:23.700,0:16:27.053
but I know my mother's going to be mad."

0:16:27.053,0:16:29.782
Well, that matters to kids, and it helps get them through.

0:16:29.782,0:16:33.591
We try to create a set of strategies that gets them tutoring

0:16:33.591,0:16:37.526
and help and support, but also a set of encouragements

0:16:37.526,0:16:40.136
that say to them, "You can do it. It is going to be hard,

0:16:40.136,0:16:42.194
but we refuse to let you fail."

0:16:42.194,0:16:43.774
JL: Well, thank you Dr. Canada.

0:16:43.774,0:16:45.438
Please give it up for him one more time.

0:16:45.438,0:16:50.439
(Applause)