Too Small to Fail: Investing in America's Kids: James Steyer at TEDxPresidio
[Music] all right greetings uh so I I want to talk to you guys today as a teacher which I am a child advocate which I am and the dad of four kids which I really am and I've been driving around to soccer games and carpools all day so I think that is theme of what I'd like to talk to you about a little today and actually since the theme is Reinventing capitalism I thought I'd talk to you about the Core Essence of Reinventing capitalism it's the fundamental reality of the American dream as we know it which in my book and I hope in all of your books is children and the next generation of our society and today that next Generation that reality is sorely at risk in a way that's almost unprecedented in most of our lifetimes for the past 30 years really 30 years we have systematically underinvested in the young people in this country children and teens they are the true engine of our economic future they are those who will truly reinvent capitalism and young people and kids have gotten the short end of the stick Time After Time After Time for the last last 30 plus years as a result I would argue that our society our future all of our future in this room but most of all theirs is sorely at risk and if we don't change that story and change that picture then all of us are going to pay a very very heavy price so let's look at the facts because I would tell you when it comes to kids the facts speak for themselves so the current reality is that today more kids live under the official poverty line that's $22,000 a year for a family of four imagine that some of you send your kids to schools here in the Bay area where you probably spend more than $22,000 a year on one child's tuition but the poverty line for a family of four in the United States is $22,000 a year and today in 50 years we have the piest poverty rate 22% of children in the United States one out of four nearly live below that line and 11% of American Kids 7 and A5 million children including hundreds of thousands here in the Bay Area live at half the poverty line that's what we call Extreme poverty where a family of four earns less than $1,000 a year and 44% of America's kids live in families where their family makes $44,000 a year or less I would call that one paycheck one Health Care crisis away from poverty and we're talking more than two out of five children in American living in that condition and think of the attendant realities hunger homelessness educational inadequacy all the things that we consider basic to the American dream so what is that it's morally wrong it's economically insane what are we thinking as a society when our youngest generation is the poorest generation in our world let's look at it in a few different a couple of different contexts okay how about education it's widely recognized here and across this increasingly globalized economy that engine is that education is the lifeblood of our all of our futures our societies and most of all our kids opportunities for Success it's fundamental to the opportunity nation that America Claims itself to be and in my career I've spent more than 30 years as a teacher so what do you see as a teacher today if you just go a few miles from where we're seed seated in this lovely auditorium today go over to East Oakland or bayew Hunters Point and take a look at the schools you find crumbling walls peeling paint more than 30 kids in a classroom a public education system that in many places across this land that's broken fundamentally broken in desperate need of repair you don't see gyms or playgrounds you don't see music or art programs you see kids who already face other challenges struggling to Def to succeed in without the resources they need and quite frankly you see teachers and principles blamed for a situation that's far beyond their control so how does that play out itself look at the graduation rate one in four kids in the United States today 24% that starts High School do not graduate if you're Latino it's one and three if you're African-American it's over that about 36% will drop out what are we thinking in a world where we're competing with global Giants who are constantly investing more in education take a look at the global reality about test score today we rank among all countries 14th in reading scores 25th in math scores what does that say about Reinventing capitalism Reinventing the Next Generation in America it says we've had shortsighted selfish and at times self-destructive policies that have failed to focus on the fundamental engine of our capitalist society and most of all the core of what all of us know is core to our society let's talk a little about the context of economic inequality too because that's a big layer and it's clear today that family income matters more than ability whether we like it or not or whether that's the story that we tell about our society two years ago 300,000 Americans aggregate income was collectively higher than the bottom 150 million Americans income you tell me how that is a way to invest in young people because the bottom line Losers of of of that economic inequality and the rising tide of of Separation that we see there are young people are young and disadvantaged people and we have failed to take advantage of their skills and opportunities for years if you look at the slide that I put up it's clear that where you're born the ZIP code you're born into is more important than your ability your character and how hard you work so your college so kids from the highest income brackets who have the worst test scores have higher completion rates than kids from the lowest economic backgrounds who have the highest test scores something isn't fair in that picture and that is something that all of us has an have an opportunity to focus on because we have no choice if this is the opportunity nation that we believe it is then those statistics and that reality has to change and yes very simply we must do better everyone in this room must do better and we as a nation must do better so let's look at one other category of people that's interesting to compare young people to our senior citizens when you look at the reality of kids versus seniors today in this Society it's a rather stark contrast today it's a sad story in some ways of our national priorities Americans actually spend two and a half times per year as much money on a senior citizen as they do on young people what kind of social policy and economic investment strategy focuses on the oldest folks in our society as opposed to those who are going to build all of our Collective future ask yourself that that's not a knock on senior citizens that's not saying we don't need to provide seniors with a quality of life they deserve in their later years but it does mean that as a nation our priority and our sense of where we should invest our resources is quite screwed in the wrong direction so what do we do about that how do we take how do we do something about it how does everyone in this room think about that well it fundamentally requires nothing less than fundamental change in terms of our priorities at the end of the day this isn't just about one policy or one investment it's about social and political will it's about you and me and all of us and what the priorities we are and we believe in and we know we should have as a nation investing in young people children and teens is at the core of an intelligent capitalist system and the S simple truth is that our children deserve nothing less and that they are indeed too small to fail even if we have been treating them that way so I would suggest that we need to focus on them and build a new social movement around that a new Society commitment to young people and kids and we have no other choice if we want to change this world and make it what it should be so in honor of my kids who i' just been driving around to our soccer games today I'd like to read you a prayer for children that was written by a friend of mine who's a journalist in Nashville Tennessee we pray for children who sneak popsicles before supper who erace holes in Math workbooks and who throw Tantrums in the grocery store picket their food who like ghost stories and who can never find their shoes and we pray for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead in who never go to the circus who live in an x-rated world we pray for children who sleep with a dog and bury the Goldfish who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelion who get visits from the Tooth Fairy Who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money and we pray for those who never get dessert who have no safe blanket to drag behind them who watch their parents watch them die who can't find any bread to steal who don't have any room to clean up whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser whose monsters are real we pray for children who spend all of their allowance before Tuesday who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse out the bathtub who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool who squirm in chir in church or Temple and scream into the phone whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose Smiles can make us cry and we pray for those whose Nightmares come in the daytime who will eat anything who have never seen a dentist who aren't spoiled by anybody who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep sleep who live and move but have no being we pray for children who want to be carried and for those who must for those we never give up on and for those who never get a second chance For Those whom we smother and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it thank you very much than I