NOW THAT'S NOT FUNNY

Glen Beck

Mostly I'm putting this information here... so I don't lose it or forget about it before I have time to do more research.

This is more about Jeffrey Canada than Glen Beck.

If you have a child in a public school, YOU really ought to read about this guy Jeffrey Canada and what he said.

Below is part of the transcript from the Glen Beck show on June 7.

Here is a great example of what happens when someone challenges the status quo in education and the positive things that can happen as a result !

BECK (voice-over): It`s a typical day for these 4-year-olds, reciting their French grammar. No, it`s not an exclusive private school. It`s public, and it`s happening right here in Harlem, New York, as part of a charter school project.

Young hearts and minds are thriving today in what is historically one of New York`s most troubled neighborhoods, all thanks to one man.

JEFFREY CANADA, HARLEM CHILDREN`S ZONE: How`s it doing, guys?

BECK: Jeffrey Canada heads up the Harlem Children`s Zone, the one-of- a-kind program that covers a 60-block area in central Harlem. Its mission? Saving its own 6,500 children, through education, one child at a time.

CANADA: There is no solution for dealing with the issues of poverty, for dealing with the issues of crime in this country except education. If our schools don`t work, then the poor children in this country are simply not going to succeed.

BECK: He says the key is taking an all encompassing approach.

CANADA: Why is it that we think that we can work with children only for a little period of time and then think they`re going to be OK? The truth of the matter is every single age is critical and important, and we have to provide support for this particular group of children throughout all of those ages.

BECK: The charter school is called the Promise Academy. But it`s only one part of the program.

There`s also the Baby College, which offers parenting skills for those who are pregnant or have kids under the age of 3. The Harlem Gems is a pre-kindergarten program with an adult to child ratio of 1-4 that aims to get kids school ready.

Truths and Truths Fitness, the youth development programs, offer free tutoring, regent`s prep courses, karate, dance, aerobics, drama club. They produce a newspaper and produce a cable TV program.

Canada says his drive comes from personal experience. He and his three brothers grew up in the impoverished South Bronx of the 1950s. His father left when they were infants. The boys were raised by a single mom, who at times had to turn to welfare.

CANADA: Part of being in the ghetto meant that you were trapped there. And I grew up wondering why didn`t anybody do anything? Why didn`t the adults come and save us kids? We had done nothing wrong. There was no reason that we should grow up without heat and hot water, with rats and roaches, living in filth and vermin. I just wondered where are the heroes?

BECK: And it`s these first-hand experiences that allow Canada to connect with the kids he`s trying to save.

CANADA: They`re always shocked because before kids know me, when they see me, I`m always in a suit and tie and jacket. And they think, "Oh, yes, this guy probably grew up somewhere."

And when we begin to talk about how we grew up, when I begin to share with them my own life story and I can see the recognition in their eyes, it touches them that I went through that same thing and made it out the other side. They sit there and say, he made it, he actually got out of that and did something.

BECK: And what he did was get himself a first rate education, ending with a master`s degree from Harvard.

CANADA: I never had one doubt that I was going to come back and do this work. An dif you look at my academic career in college and at graduate school, every single course I took was focused on trying to figure out how we could find solutions to the problems of inner city, poor minority children.

BECK: Though some people think his methods are unusual, Canada says he`s willing to do whatever it takes to motivate the kids, even bribing them for incentives, including a small cash prize for accomplishments like perfect attendance.

CANADA: These kids are poor. Their parents have no money. Money really matters to them. I think it`s totally acceptable to say, you know, here`s $10. You`ve really done great. We think that`s good. This is what will happen if you continue to do good. You will be able to legally earn money and have a good life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two positive integers.

BECK: And teachers that work for him get motivation of a different kind.

CANADA: I think our teachers are underpaid and I think they`re undervalued. I think the people who are really working with the heart of this problem are some of the — really, the great heroes and heroines in this country who are uncelebrated.

But we also have a lot of folk who aren`t pulling their weight. And we need to be able to make sure teachers who aren`t doing great things for children get retrained, and if they`re not able to be retrained, that they get let go. Because we`re not going to be able to stay a first-rate country if we give our kids a second- or third-rate education.

BECK: For Canada, it`s about a promise kept.

CANADA: This is a funny thing about my mother, and she`s probably going to beat me up for telling this, but it`s true. When I was about 11 years old, my mother came to me and she said, "Jeff, I believe you have a special talent with relating and connecting with people. And you can use this for good or you could use this for bad. If you decide to use this for bad, I`m going to disown you."

And I thought she was kidding. She was not kidding. I think she`s very proud of the way things have developed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: You, sir, I have wanted to shake your hands for a couple of weeks now. I asked our staff to look into you and do a piece on you. Somebody who is making a difference, not taking no for an answer.

What is the most shocking thing that you`ve come up against? You know, we`re all trying. We`re struggling with our kids, trying to change the system, and it doesn`t want to change. What were you shocked by?

CANADA: Let me tell you the thing that really surprised me the most, Glenn. People always come to me and say, "Boy, isn`t it so hard?" I am shocked by how little it takes sometimes to save a child. Just by paying attention, just by asking the kind of things we take for granted, you know, "How are you doing? How are you feeling? Are you scared? Is someone bothering you? Is there something you need?" That these common things don`t happen to a whole bunch of children in our city.

BECK: But you are taking on a system. I mean, you fired last year more teachers in your one school than the entire city of Manhattan. You`re taking on system. That ain`t easy.

CANADA: No, it`s not easy. And it comes with some risks. You know, I admit there are some risks.

But this is what I think. When you look at what`s at stake. So if you let things continue just where they`re going, where are we going to end up? We`re going to end up spending $60,000 a year to lock these same kids up that we could have educated when they were in the second or third grade. It doesn`t make any sense to me.

So if you know that that system is broken and it doesn`t make any sense, and you just continue doing — we have — look, there are schools that were around 30 years ago that are lousy. They were lousy 30 years ago. They`re lousy today. How did we let that happen? How did we let that go on?

BECK: It`s — it`s the system, man; it`s the system. And you going in and breaking the back of it, God bless you! What can you tell — somebody`s Watching in Omaha, Nebraska, and they`re looking at a failing school and their kid trapped in it.

I mean, I`m lucky enough to live in a nice suburb, man. I don`t want to send my kids to those schools. You`re sitting there with a trapped kid, what do you tell that parent? How do they break open and start over again?

CANADA: One of the things I think we have to do, and people just have to take this as part of the truth, we`ve got to have politicians that have the moral courage to stand up to these bureaucracies and these systems. We have one in Mayor Bloomberg. You know, it just so happens that he is uncorruptable. People can`t influence him. He`s decided education…

BECK: He`s a billionaire.

CANADA: He`s a millionaire. Education is going to change, and he has taken on the invested interest.

So people thought it could not be done. It can be done. If you don`t sell out, if you`re prepared to be a man of principles, you can do this. And this is the problem. When you look at the hundreds of thousands of children whose lives are wasted because people won`t take a stand and stand up and say no more of this, that`s a sin.

BECK: I could spend an hour with you. I hope to be able to spend some more time with you on the radio tomorrow. Thank you, sir.

CANADA: Thank you for having me on.

BECK: Thank you very much.

CANADA: My pleasure.