Brian L. Pauling
Education—the answer to many of the problems ailing our country—is getting the least amount of attention from the candidates on the presidential campaign trail.
According to a November 2015 Gallup poll, only 4 percent of Americans consider education or education policy to be the most important problem facing our nation. Respondents instead cited the economy, poorly run government, immigration, gun control and health care of most concern. While I agree that these are important issues, we at 100 Black Men of America, Inc. (The 100) believe that without a quality education, many young people, particularly African Americans, will be condemned to lives of poverty, incarceration and despair.
As a nonprofit mentoring organization, the education of our youth is one of our top concerns. In our advocacy work, The 100 has sought to raise public awareness about the need to reform our nation’s education system, especially in predominately African-American and low-income communities where far too many of the schools are failing our children. We are working to ensure that every child, no matter their zip code, has access to high-performing schools. Schools with caring and nurturing environments, high-performing teachers, rigorous curriculum, and the proper materials and technology are some of the key ingredients to preparing our kids to successfully graduate high school, handle college-level coursework without requiring remediation, compete in a global marketplace and become productive members of society.
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