Kanye West's Politics of People

Last weekend I had the surreal experience of sitting next to mega-rapper Kanye West at a press conference and realizing that we were pretty alike: we both feel strongly about George W. Bush, we both look good in Polo shirts, and most importantly, we're both concerned black men who are trying to get something done about America's education crisis.

ED in '08 recently partnered with The Kanye West Foundation, and I was in Chicago to visit the set of a PSA that Kanye is filming for ED in '08, challenging the presidential candidates to speak up about education. He's eager to use his celebrity and platform to bring attention to this issue -- we agree that the candidates from both parties aren't doing enough to show that K-12 education reform is something that they care about.

Kanye's new album, which will be released on September 11th, is called "Graduation," but that's something that 46% of black males in America will never reach. There are millions of voters who like Kanye are outraged that out of every 100 black kindergarteners, only ten will ever earn a bachelors degree. The same is true for Latino students. This is a national crisis and the failure of the next president to address this problem will be a national tragedy for both social and economic reasons.

Just consider, the poverty rate for families headed by dropouts is more than twice that of families headed by high school graduates, and over a lifetime, dropouts earn $260,000 less than high school graduates and contribute about $60,000 less in federal and state income taxes. More alarming, our economic competitiveness depends on the innovation and skills of our students. America once had the best graduation rate in the world -- today it ranks only 19th among developed countries. The American dream is in danger. Future generations could find themselves without the skills they need to survive in the global economy -- let alone seize the opportunities of tomorrow.


Kanye West is a brilliant artist and a provocative figure in American politics, but by his own admittance, he's not much of a politician. "Politics is a business," he told The Associated Press while we were in Chicago. "I'm more social. I just care about people." That's what the ED in '08 campaign is also about - the millions of kids who will never make it out of high school, or who will graduate without the skills they need to go to college or get a competitive job.


Here's what bothers me -- and what should bother you -- candidates spend an awful lot of time talking about trivial matters, issuing comments and releases about the various twists of press cycle, but offer very little discussion about this national epidemic, something that's not going away any time soon. Are their attention spans that short? Candidates from both parties need to overcome the reluctance to lead on education issues, whether it's because of their ties to special interests or the limitations of their ideology.


Maybe candidates should try to be more like Kanye West, and not concerned about the politics so as much as people. Shouldn't that be the kind of leader we really want?

Comments

[1will]

Yeah, yeah. You don't agree with someone so they're a Klansman. Very original.
Let me guess. When things don't go right for you it's all because of racism and you don't know how things are traditionaly done in the old country.

[1will]

Why is it that Asians, who make up about 3% of our nation have no problem graduating High School or College? Could it be because this ethnic group values education.
Asians are so vastly over represented in Colleges that they are included with whites whenever a college or university has a quota system for applicants.

[nihilon x]

Africans from Africa also do very well in college, so it is not simply about the "ethnic group" itself -- it is about a historical pattern of denying African-Americans the right to an equal (if any) education up until only about 40 years ago.

I'm black and I have older family members who can't even write and punctuate sentences correctly -- how can you expect these relatives to pass down the value of an education when -- due to segregation and "separate but equal" -- they never received one themselves?

They can show concern and care to make sure that their children do better, but comparing Asians to African-Americans is like comparing apples to oranges. Many Asians come here by choice, and retain their wealth, their native culture, and their languages. This is not true for African-Americans, who basically have to build from the ground up due to having no real traditional roots to build upon.

Two entirely different American histories -- two entirely different stories.

With that said, however, certainly more African-Americans could learn to value education (and to attend college) as that is the only way to ensure upward mobility in this nation.

[1will]

You have some very good points but you also have some of the same tired excuses.
I cannot imagine how much strength it must have taken older black people to brave cops, dogs and firehoses in order to send their kids to desegregated schools. I cannot imagine how hard it must have been for some of these older black parents to send their kids off to school knowing the National Guard had to keep them safe. I admire these old/elderly black people. They were a brave generation.
With that said I believe this generation of black people are more interested in excuses then education. You say that Asians came here by choice. That is true. Many have just came here in the last few decades yet their sons and daughters go on to be doctors and engineers while their parents barely speak English. You make the excuse that blacks today don't know their traditional African culture. Traditional African culture has nothing to do with staying in school, staying off of drugs and not making babies you cannot support. A huge portion of African American culture is morally bankrupt.
Do you know what the biggest concern is for 13 year old black girls at my daughter's school? They all want babies. It's cool to have a baby as a kid. What's even sadder is they want white boyfriends because the young black girls want light skinned babies. How sad is it that the only criteria they care about in their (future) child's father is how light skinned of a baby he can make?
Tell me that is the culture of your parents or grandparents. Wherever black kids today got their culture it wasn't from the generation that faced cops, dogs, firehoses and lynching.
Now compare your parents and grandparents culture to Africa where grown men routinely rape young girls because they believe having sex with virgins is a cure for aids. Compare your parents culture to that of Nigerians whose main export is fraud. I won't even go into the Sub Saharan practice of female circumcision or arranged marriages.

[ms.understood]

Forgive me for my sounding like a prude, but I don't fully understand why this is entirely the governments' fault. Sure enough, I believe that the government should provide more funding to the social programs that will assist those in poverty, but I also believe that all of society should have a hand in helping as well. We also have mega-churches who, if they were doing what they are supposed to do, should especially help in the fight against poverty, instead of financing the "good lives" of the religious leaders. I can imagine that it is very disheartening to possess a low ebb because of poverty and while attending church, to see your pastor driving up in a Bentley while telling you to give money to the church! All I'm basically saying is that we all can take part in assisting others.

[SueDoe]

Do you really think that the mega-churches want their parishioners learning things like:

How to read
How to reason
That Darwin knew something

I mean if they could see a spreadsheet they (parishioners) might not be giving as much

[AsaNisMasa]

"The American dream is in danger"

come on Marc. The American dream is dead. It is now a nightmare.

[SueDoe]

NIMBY

Not
In
My
Back
Yard

I'm in Los Angeles and our schools are failures. Not small failures but large scale SmartKidsGetBoredAndDropOut kind of failures.

What's the link?

Poverty and parent involvement.

LAUSD has a wonderful program for Pre-K that embraces parent involvement and education but it's small and it requires a lot of attention. It's just not as available as it should be.

Jonathan Kozol has written volumes about the inequalities in public education.

I have a solution.

Make your back yard bigger.

Did you know that Beverly Hills is only about 8 miles from South Central Los Angeles?

If the people of Beverly Hills felt invested in South Central Los Angeles' schools this city wouldn't be having the discussion.

It's a local issue, but don't make it too small.

xoxo
Sue
http://suedoenim.blogspot.com

[cct1984]

The abysmal state of educational attainment in the Black community will not change until we take ownership of the problem. Too many of us continue to look to the government to fix a problem that is mainly ours to fix. As much as we loathe admitting it, far too many of us equate academic achievement with acting "white" or just don"t see it as important enough to warrant any effort. Instead, we pay lip service to academic efforts while simultaneously complaining that the problem is due to a lack of funding--that"s a load of crap. Here are some statistics for you: a 2005 survey shows that the US spends more per student on K-12 education than every other country in the world save Switzerland (both tied for first), spending on average $7,200 per student. Some may be tempted to claim that this money is mostly going to the rich suburban schools¦this assertion would also be false. The D.C. school system, which is primarily minority students, spends an average of $12,979 per student, yet they score the lowest among major school districts in academic testing. The fact is too many Black parents do not give education the emphasis it deserves: this is not something politicians are going to fix, no matter how well meaning their initiative may be. Rather than a top-down program, what is needed in the Black community is a bottom-up revival. There was a time when we were willing to run a gauntlet of local citizens wielding rocks and yelling all manner of obscenities just to go to class, such was our determination to get an education¦no longer. Now-a-days you couldn"t get some students to go to school even if you paid them. Bill Cosby was right, this problem is ours to fix. If Kanye West really wants to make a difference he should consider rapping about education rather than victimization.

[1will]

That was the best comment I've read all week.
It takes a stronger man to point out an unpopular truth than to simply toe the party line while spouting rhetoric.

[royjeffries]

Funding is not the issue. The per pupil education expenditures have been increasing well in excess of inflation year in and year out yet there is little evidence of a direct relationship between spending and pupil performance, Washington D.C. being the most obvious example. What is needed is innovation fueled by competition, even if that means the use of vouchers. Press conferences with celebrities may make some people feel good, but how about some real reform both within the education system and social systems within our communities. The money is already there. It's not the size, it's how we use it.

[rektruax]

I'm with roy here. I live in Brooklyn, and the schools here in Bed Stuy get just as much per student as the schools in Park Slope. Yet the schools here are failing, while the schools there are excelling. Why? Well NCLB isn't helping. Drilling kids day after day to do well on a standardized test just for them to forget it over summer vacation because their parents don't give a fuck is a waste of everyones time. This is why I've pulled my 3 oldest and are now sending them to Park Slope. There they have a more open and innovative curriculum where the kids are taught to think and are challenged.

Keep in mind that no matter how well you do in school, you can't be smart until you've learned how to think.

[Bladernr1001]

Right, many posts on here seem to want the government to come to the rescue. In the end it is only going to happen at the family level.

The government has provided the facilities....it cannot provide the motivation.

[jazzo65]

I have heard many of the Democratic candidates speak about universal pre-k when discussing changes that are needed for education. This does not address the child with the parent that cannot help them with their school work because the parents work two or three jobs or do not read themself or do not speak English or are too busy worrying about their drugs or alcohol or expect the school system to do it all. What is needed is a substitute parent after school program that can play the role of the parent for a couple hours after school making sure that all school related activities, projects, and homework are completed by the time the children without parents that can assist them with their school work go home for the day. This is the first step to reforming a system where only about 10 out of 100 African American and Latino kids will earn a bachelors degree. The substitute parent program must start in kindergarten and continue until most of these kids are in middle school. Falling behind early creates too many kids with behavioral issues and dropouts in the later school years. Without this kind of program, poor kids will simply continue to underperform in large numbers.

[Bladernr1001]

They programs like this already.

[knosiswar]

I think we should have community schools with community kids. I never worried much about my grades in school so much as if what I was wearing was as cool as the cool kids. I tended to worry, really worry, about where I was hanging around in the mornings, and fitting in. For the good intentions of bussing, I think it creates problems with a built in division among kids. It's difficult to go to school with kids that you don't relate to as a kid. I was in the middle of the richer and poorer, and think I would have done better with similiar. Having nothing to so with race so much as socio-economic.

[iluvsam]

The only way to change the education system in this country is to change the way it is funded. Community based funding has been a disaster.

[nihilon x]

The government doesn't seem to want an educated populace. Educated people make educated decisions, and educated decisions would lead to an immediate change in the status quo. Those in power like the status quo because it helps them to remain in power -- the widening gap between the rich and the poor is rarely if ever addressed by this administration primarily because, as Kanye himself almost nailed, Bush doesn't care about poor people.

Eventually we may get a leader who does more than just gives lip service to improving education for those who need it most, but waiting for that to happen is a fool's game.

Ultimately, we can't depend on the government to solve these problems anymore -- the answers are going to have to start at home, with the parents and the kids themselves.

[klmebane]

if the parents have a poor education as well, what can they really do?

[sethrp]

The narrative of American life is the struggle for a better future for your children than you had for yourself.

Parents who had a poor education can fight and work so that their children get a better one. Or get a library card. Or enroll their kids in a free after-school program.

[Bladernr1001]

Yea, the more educated you are the more the tendancy to be libertarian.

[mrcontinental]

It's a pipe dream. Improving the education system will give ALL chidren an equal oppourtunity to succeed and that must not be.

It is designed to ensure that minorities remain at the bottom end of the spectrum and will become non citizens after being introduced into the penal system or have no voice because as a group they have no wealth which in america equals no voice.

America will ultimately fail because eventually an enormous segment of the population will get tired of being used this way and chaos will ensue. Children are our most valuable resource and we are failing them in almost every way.

We are the only western nation that SELECTIVELY educates it's children. It is beyond disgraceful.

[Bladernr1001]

So what exactly is stopping a poor kid from attending school daily that a pol could fix?

I hear this all time but i don't know exactly what this means.

Isn't this really a failure of the family unit? Perhaps the large incidence of single parent homes that was caused in large part by the perverse incentives of the welfare state?

[Nommo]

The problem with any leader is that one sits around hoping this "the one". I don't know how much folk need to be lead. People know what they want, it the how to get it, or how to get over all the obstacles in the way of getting it.
There is little glamor in education and no one wants to talk about how it gets paid for. Certainly there is no glamor in educating poor or otherwise politically non-active people. Kids don't vote and maybe their parent's votes are not counted.
In any event, anyone who attempts to put the issue on the front burner is to be applauded or watched carefully, at least. If there is any community to be had, perhaps it needs to look back at the ideas of community control of education. Create new forms to house these old ideas.

[Bladernr1001]

What you need to do is stop suggesting that Bush and white America in general hate black people. It is not true. This kind of rhetoric is counterproductive and places a label of victimhood on blacks and other minorites.

Doing well in school is really simple. You need to attend class, listen to the teacher, do the homework and make this a priority in your child's life. In the end their is really nothing a polititian can do to make this happen. It really starts with the family unit. Parents who are involved with their child's schooling tend to produce decent students. Parents who communicate the value of education to their children tend to produce good students.

Government cannot force an equality of outcome here by simply spending more money. We have increased spending on schools over the last 15 years or so by orders of magnitude (even accounting for inflation) and we have an argueably worse performance rate of students today than in the past.

What Mr. West could do is to send a message of: if you work hard and value education and do well you will improve your lott in life. Messages of victimization will not improve anything.

[1will]

Well said.

[nihilon x]

West never suggested that white America hates black people.

West frequently works with white people on many of his songs.

If you read the article, you will likewise see that West is promoting education as well, but that does not mean that he can't voice his opinion on Bush's lack of concern for the downtrodden in our society.

[hopeless277]

We may want leaders like that but we can't get them. Why? Money. The ONLY cure to the majority of America's problems is PUBLIC FINANCING OF ALL POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS. Too bad the only people that can change electoral financing are the same people who benefit SOOOOO handsomly from PRIVATE election financing. Face it, we are being RULED not governed. Until the people take back their government, they will be the servants of that government not the other way around as it should be. PIN DOWN YOUR REPRESENTATIVES ON THEIR STANCE ON PUBLIC FINANCING OF CAMPAIGNS.