Last week I heard Professor Roland Fryer from Harvard University’s Department of Economics speak at a forum held by State Senator Hansen Clark and moderated by Senior editor of the Michigan Chronicle Bankole Thompson. In January 2008, at age 30, Professor Fryer became the youngest African-American to ever receive tenure at Harvard.
The town hall meeting dealt with educational reform. I have been going to different town hall meetings on educational reform the past several months. Each meeting always comes back to saving Detroit Public Schools.
Some of the points Professor Fryer pointed out was key for an educational revolution. One such point was changing the psychology of the way we view education from a parental and community standpoint. I thought this was important because oftentimes parents use the educational system as a person babysitting service instead of being involved in their children’s activities.
But the good professor lost me when he said we should utilize incentives to reward our children for good grades.
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