Raise Up

Interesting analysis on the issue of kids dropping out of school. Dropping out is a process not an event, it is a whole trajectory that leads towards greater and greater marginalization for young people, according to Pedro Noguera. Clearly poverty has a direct effect out of a lot of young people ability to graduate from and succeed in school. But there are also fundamental problems within our schools. We are not teaching the right curriculum, our teachers are not being prepared to engage with our young people, and generally we are not teaching what needs to be taught, according to Khary Lazarre-White.
Pedro Noguera is Pedro Noguera is the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University. Dr. Noguera is a sociologist whose scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions, as well as by demographic trends in local, regional and global contexts.
Khary Lazarre-White is a social entrepreneur, educator, non-profit executive, writer and attorney. He is the Executive director and co-founder of The Brotherhood/Sister Sol, an organization that provides comprehensive, holistic and long-term support services to youth who range in age from eight to twenty-two.
This interview was to promote Raise Up , an online hip hop and spoken word competition for youth ages 15-22. Youth who enter are asked to speak on the national high school drop out crisis. Five individual winners have each received a $5,000 educational scholarship and a trip to Washington DC to perform at the Kennedy Center on September 28. One group piece has been selected to receive a $2,500 award -- watch coverage of event at Kennedy Center