(8/9/97 Baltimore AFRO-American Newspaper)
by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
If you want to know the past, touch a rock. If you want to know the present, touch a flower petal. If you want to know the future, touch the life of a child.
As a member of the United States Congress I am often asked who are my heroes. In over 15 years in public service, I have had the honor of seeing thousands of men and women giving of their time and their financial resources to make the world a more humane and just place for all people.
Successful people almost unilaterally credit the same childhood examples as the foundation for their achievements -- parents and teachers.
A few months ago, I wrote a column about one of my greatest heroes -- my father. My childhood was sometimes difficult, but I learned to believe in myself because I had parents who gave me faith and teachers who would not accept "I can’t do it."
Our community is presently engaged in a public discussion about which combination of educational strategies will most improve our schools. In the midst of this often heated debate, all of us agree upon two basic ideas.
We know that the educational success of our children is vitally important to Baltimore’s future. It is imperative that we ensure that our children survive our changing and sometimes dangerous world. Our hopes and dreams for them will only be realized by helping them achieve a quality education.
We also agree that parents who are involved and care about their children, working in combination with inspired, capable teachers are our children’s most important resource.
Whatever else we have yet to learn about improving Baltimore’s schools, we know that loving parents and exceptional teachers are essential to the creation of good students.
Our city has urgent educational needs. In one month, 109,000 Baltimore City children will return to their classes in our 180 schools. For years, I have made it my personal mission to visit every school and talk to every student. Since 1983, I have spent hundreds of hours in schools throughout Baltimore, and have found that most of our principals, given the proper resources, are able to create an environment ripe for our children to learn and grow.
As I said before, what we are in need of are more inspired and capable teachers. Despite additional financial resources and a renewed commitment from our state and city leaders, many of our best teachers have retired, changed professions, or moved on to other systems.
Their replacements, for the most part, are young, idealistic, and intelligent; but some of them lack experience. Someday, these young teachers will be great, but our children are in need of assistance right now.
In June, I asked Dr. J. Tyson Tildon, Baltimore City’s new School Board Chairman, to address a session of my Education Roundtable. During his discussion, Dr. Tildon announced an idea for immediate educational improvement which is so logical, so brilliant in its simplicity, that it deserves the community’s unqualified support.
Dr. Tildon and the new school board have created an initiative called Retired Educators Advocating Change Today (REACT). The plan calls for retired, exemplary educators to return to active service for a limited period of time to teach and mentor young teachers and provide the type of leadership and support our students must have in order to turn this critical situation around.
Each of our 180 principals have been asked to specify the needs of their schools. Those needs will be matched within the experienced educational resources retired educators are able and willing to provide.
The retirees will not take the place of our regular teachers. Instead, they will bring their wealth of experiences and wisdom to compliment the wonderful changes we see taking place in our city’s school system.
I implore all retired educators to consider being part of this innovative program. Whether your schedule allows two days a week or five, your example and assistance may be the ingredient needed to make our school system a source of pride once again.
We as parents have an important role to play as well. As adults, our lives can easily become hectic and preoccupied with work and carrying out our responsibilities. We must always take time to find out what is happening in the lives of our young people. Spend a few moments in the evening to assist with homework, to listen to stories about the school football team or offer help in the planning of the upcoming spring dance. I have shared a great deal of personal time listening to my daughter Jennifer’s thoughts, not only about school but her views on the world. I want to give my children the strength and ability to face all of life’s challenges and not only survive them, but to triumph over them.
The African proverb, It truly takes a village to raise a child is certainly appropriate for this situation. We must realize that the future existence of our society depends greatly upon the educational success of our youngsters. There is a role for all of us to play in helping the new School Board, teachers, principals, and most importantly, our children be the very best that they can be.
-The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.