U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley chose to deliver a message of hope and equality yesterday at a public school in Durham, a city whose school system has long struggled to provide an adequate and equitable education for all its students.
Southern High School hosted the seventh annual State of American Education Address, which attracted Gov. Jim Hunt, Duke President Nan Keohane and scores of other politicians, education administrators and experts.
Riley began his speech with exclamations of optimism.
"The state of American education is changing for the better," he said. "Public education is beginning to become something new."
Pointing to rising test scores, increasing numbers of students going to college and a shrinking gender gap in math and science classes, Riley said that the time is ripe to make some substantial changes in the public school system. "A quality education for every child is a new civil right for the 21st century," he said.
Riley's speech touched on many proposals designed to provide more opportunities for underprivileged children. His list of goals included improving special education, reducing the "digital divide" between rich schools and poor schools, providing after-school opportunities, Head Start and national standards.
"Our poorest children race the greatest of odds," he said. "We do these children the greatest injustice if we allow the old tyranny of low expectations to prevail, and we cannot let that happen."
Riley said that teachers are the key element of improving schools, and he cited North Carolina as an example of a state that has made concerted efforts to improve the quality of its teachers.
Insisting that he does not blame teachers for the dismal performance of many schools, Riley drew loud applause by saying, "Unlike some in politics, I do not get a kick out of bashing teachers."
The most far-reaching proposal he announced would extend a teacher's working year from nine to 11 months without prolonging the school year.
"This extra time can and should be used to intensive professional development, and it certainly should be used to give more students the extra help they need in the summer months," went on to explain, although he gave no specifics of the program.
Riley would accompany the longer work year with a significant increase in pay. "I have come to the conclusion that we will never really improve American education until we elevate the teaching profession and come to grips with the issue of teacher compensation," he said.
Riley challenged colleges and universities to play a role in the reforms he suggested.
"I continue to encourage America's higher education community to enter into a sustained dialogue with education reformers at the middle and secondary level," he said.
Responding to the rash of school shootings since his last State of American Education address, Riley stated that morals and religion have a place in public schools.
"Our schools have a role to play in helping young people develop a moral compass," he said.
But not everyone at Southern supported secretary Riley.
About 25 protesters, including representatives from the Durham chapter of the NAACP, gathered outside of the building to advocate school vouchers. Riley specifically criticized vouchers in his speech.
One of the protesters, state superintendent candidate Vernon Robinson, questioned Riley's decision to speak at Southern.
"Certainly there's a better county than Durham and a better state than North Carolina to talk about how education is working," he said, "because it's not working here."
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