Call your shot...

I've heard that Arnie Duncan is a baller.

That's black folk speak for "he can play basketball."

Whether this is literally true or not; I don't know. I've never seen him play. I do know Duncan and Obama used to play together here in Chicago. But does he have a game? Who knows. But Arnie Duncan is a tall guy, he looks like he's in pretty decent shape, so I'm inclined to give our Secretary of Education the benefit of the doubt.

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This weekend, I had the unique pleasure of wading through the minutia of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Fun. Fun. Fun. Can someone please explain to me why all Federal legislation is virtually incomprehensible? I mean...everyone is DC is a lawyer! Seriously. Go to DC and check it out. Your senator? A lawyer. Congressman? A lawyer. Hotel concierge? Underemployed lawyer. Cab driver? Unemployed lawyer. So why is it that finding someone in DC to construct a basic sentence is so hard? I thought the ability to write was a prerequisite to passing the bar exam. I guess times are a changing.

In any event, as I waded though rhetoric and conditions, qualified by caveats and assurances, sports metaphors kept racing through my mind. (Maybe it was because I was watching the Final Four while trying to figure out where all of this money was going). After spending hours reading, cross-checking, extrapolating and analyzing, I thought to myself....I think I know what Obama and Duncan really want to say here but can't. It would be...uncouth. But when you break ARRA down, when you get to the heart of the matter after all of the regulatory gobbly-gook, what I think they want to say is:

Rethink everything.

Or to use a basketball metaphor, I could see Arnie Duncan standing in the lane like Shaq, guarding the hoop (or in this case, a $5 billion dollar fund that he controls) like a hawk, saying to school boards, superintendents, school districts and principals from sea to shining sea: Bring it! Show me what you've got. You've got some money, but I want to know what you did, how you did it, and what you came up with that's new. And don't even TRY to come into the lane with some soft, tired, unoriginal retread masked as reform. If you do, I will knock that weak garbage back in your face. Come strong or not at all.

Show me something!

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A true baller is also a shot caller. A shot caller is someone who will tell you what they're going to do before they do it, dare you to stop it, and then do it. Jordan was the ultimate shot caller. I'll never forget one game where Dekembe Mutombo of the finger wagging fame was playing one of his typically annoying "I-just-blocked-your-shot-so-I'm-going-to-wag-my-finger-in-your-face" games against the Bulls. Jordan was fouled and walked to the free throw line. He yelled: "HEY MUTOMBO," closed is eyes, dribbled the ball and proceed to make the free throw with his eyes closed.

Yeah baby!!

THAT'S a shot caller!!

And THAT'S what we need in education.

With an unprecedented 5 BILLION dollar fund in his back pocket, $5 billion that schools will only get for showing innovative instructional practices, it's as though Duncan and Obama are daring the shot callers to step up. Shot callers are doers. Shot callers are innovators. Shot callers are Don Quixote; people who dream the impossible dream. People like my girl Ginger Lewman knocking it out of the park at Turning Point Learning Center doing GREAT things with GREAT people in the heartland of Kansas. People like Kelly Tenkely, rocking it out with a website on technology integration that you can actually use, creating something with her hands, her mind and her passion for absolutely no money that is of use and value to anyone, anywhere, anytime. People like my guy Korbus who is, I think, writing a primer for the educational uses of laptops for, like, all of South Africa.

Shot callers.

So you know I think? I think if I were a board member, superintendent, principal or a teacher in the trenches, I wouldn't be satisfied with that first wave of stimulus money. That's basically back fill and catch up money. I would want want more. That 5 billion Duncan has? That my money. I would call my shot. I've got kids who need me, parents who depend on me and 5 billion reasons to bring it; to come up with something new; something strong, something truly innovative.

So at the end of the day, don't fixate on the words of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. (Unless, of course, you're a lawyer and you like doing that sort of stuff). Focus on the meaning. And what is the meaning? That the status quo is not good enough. Come strong. Bring it like Jordan. Come get this money. But don't do it for yourself. Do it for your kids. Because they need you. Because if you don't do it, who will?

So create.

Think outside of the box.

Fight for the future of your kids.

Innovate.

Rethink everything.

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I'm sending a shout out to all of the ballers and shot callers.

We've got a MAJOR one-time infusion of new funding. Kudos to Obama and Congress. But more is waiting.

Bring it!

Show Duncan and Obama what you've got. Show the world what you've got.

We're watching......

Waiting.......

Call your shot.

An Investment in Education--The Ultimate Stimulus Plan (Part II)

They just don't get it!!

Leave it to our elected officials, elected ostensibly to do the will of the people, to then ignore the needs of the people, of John and Jane Q. Public, in the endless and utterly counterproductive debate about liberal vs. conservative fiscal policy and ideology. Last week, the House of Representatives passed a bold and brave economic recovery bill that allocated billions of much-needed dollars to improve and modernize our schools and foster "21st century learning environments." The bill then goes to the Senate, the political wrangling continues, and what gets cut? Much of the funding for education.

I guess an investment in education isn't "stimulating" enough.

Again, I am not an economist so I leave it to people smarter than me to determine where and how stimulus money should be spent. And I certainly acknowledge and respect our collective and individual right to agree and agree to disagree on political issues. But in one man's humble opinion, and I may be baying into the wind, I firmly believe that if we don't invest in schools and in our children, then no amount of money we spend now will save us from an economic and human catastrophe that will make the current crisis look fairly mild by comparison.

Don't the Senators who cut these education dollars understand that, by some estimates, almost 1 million children each year are dropping out of school? Don't they understand that right now less than 35% of our public school 12th grade students are proficient in reading, science and math? Don't they understand that those students who do graduate assess well behind students from other countries in virtually every statistical category? Don't they understand that in a recent study conducted by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, high school graduates were deemed "deficient" in every one of the 21st century skills deemed necessary for 21st century success?"

If a company like Microsoft is laying off highly skilled employees, what chance does a high school drop out have? In an increasingly global economy where our children are no longer competing with each other but are competing with kids from Korea, China, India and Japan, what chance will they have in learning environments that are antiquated and outdated; where teachers and students are using essentially the same tools that I used when I graduated from high school over 25 years ago? I would challenge any one of the senators who cut the education funding to quit their jobs, forgo their senate salaries, and try and build a business--any business--using only the tools found in most inner city public school classrooms. I suspect most would look at me and think, "Are you insane? We won't have the tools."

Exactly.

Neither do they.

Bottom line, an investment in education is the ultimate stimulus package. It is an investment in our present and our future. It is an investment that can reap dividends for generations. It is an investment in our children that should not, that must not, be compromised.