Who’s Standing Up for the Children? Rev. Al Sharpton & New York chief, Joel L. Klein sterilize important message of education reform

The issue of public education reform is one that is ever relevant – and rightfully so. Minorities continue to have lesser access to quality public education than the rest of the nation more than 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, which heralded equal educational opportunity for minority students.

However, when New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and the Rev. Al Sharpton recently stepped to the podium to announce their objective of making education reform a campaign issue through their new national group, Education Equity Project, they successfully relegated this important issue to a bland affair.

Rather than strike a chord and galvanize support for the project at the news conference held at the National Press Club, they almost invoked a yawn.

There were no children there. No success stories to share. No recommendations as to how the presidential candidates or voters could make education policy an issue of focus during the campaign. Just intentions to drive the debate through “position papers, public forums at national conventions….behind-the-scenes advocacy,” according to the Washington Post. If it sounds just like any other initiative out there, that’s because it was presented as such. With no real heart or conviction.

But Klein and Sharpton’s oversight held some important lessons for us all when it comes to presenting any issue to the public, including:

1. Ask why should people care? What’s the human interest? Don’t get so lost in the details that you can’t see the forest for the trees. For example, at the core of the subject of education reform are real children, real lives that will be impacted by this reform yet there was little indication children’s perspectives were being considered in the initiative. Nor were there any children in photo ops.

2. Finger-pointing is only so effective. Use the opportunity to present new thinking, solutions or recommendations. What better way to get the “debate” going.

3. When tackling a politically-charged topic such as education reform, take the time to vet the issue and look at the different sides of the argument. It indicates that you really care about the issue and are not just paying lip service to it which hurts not help your message.

We are interested in your thoughts.