Immediate Action Needed For School Children To Succeed

MACKINAC ISLAND (WWJ) -A passionate plea for education reform at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinaw Island this week.  The President and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone, Geoffrey Canada, says the country is in trouble if it continues on the same path for education.

Canada compared the job of educating kids in the U.S. to a fire department with a town burning down.

"And the fire department comes out and they start to fight the fire and then they say, "It's three o'clock -that's it for the day, guys, let's go." And they say, wait, wait it's burning! "No, no, we'll see you tomorrow," we'll see how this thing goes, right? So, that goes on and then comes June and they say, "See you in September." You say,"..what about the town?" I guess it will be a little burnt when we get back," is the analogy Canada gives.

Canada said our town is burning, and our kids are failing at record numbers. And he adds that if teachers who are paid to educate kids are failing, they should get a new job.