John Legend has talked about his mission for education equality for all children in a MediaPlanet supplement to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Many of our schools are literally and figuratively crumbling, and we’re not giving kids – especially low-income and minority kids – the chance to succeed,” he says in the piece by Steve Etheridge. "It’s currently the reality that where a child is born, what color that child is, and/or how much money that child’s parents make determines the quality of his or her education and life prospects.
“That’s not just, that’s not fair, that’s not right. But it’s happening.”
Legend – who fights poverty through his Show Me Campaign – visits schools across the US in an attempt to bring equality to the education system. He sits on the boards of Tech For America, the Education Equality Project, and the Harlem Village Academies.
“We are seeing proof at all levels that when students from low income communities have great teachers and go to great schools, they are able to achieve what was thought to be impossible.”
Over 20 percent of teachers in urban districts quit every year, while nationally 46 percent of teachers quit before their fifth year – costing the US $7.34 billion annually.
