As Black Folk- "We need to promote and market the importance of education the same way Steve Jobs marketed the IPhone" says Leroy Robinson

I just happened to come across this article from IndyStar.com and I want our readers to weigh in on this. Here's an excerpt from educator, Leroy Robinson's portion of the piece:

LEROY ROBINSON

African-American students need passports to future

As Malcolm X (1925-1965) so eloquently said many years ago, education is your "passport to the future." Are our young people preparing today for their future tomorrow?
With the great influx of daily technological advances -- from ipods to iphonesand FaceBook to MySpace -- far too many of our young people are spending time trying to produce the best YouTube video or download the latest ring tone. They are not spending enough time and attention developing their academic talents in this forever-evolving global society.
American students no longer compete only with students within their home state or surrounding region. Competition for a seat on college campuses not only comes from other parts of our nation, but from other nations around the world.
American students now compete with students from China, Japan, and Korea. With our society quickly becoming a global communication network, the competition for jobs, careers, and college acceptance letters is international.
While American students are working so diligently at playing video games and creating impressive FaceBook pages, foreign students from Asia and Europe are continuing to perform at the highest levels in math, science, history and geography.
As parents, educators, legislators, ministers and mentors, we must somehow shift the focus back to education.
African-American students are behind in state scores in every subject category, from math to English. Far too many young people fail to graduate from high school or to attend a college, university, trade school or apprentice program.
It is not realistic to think that every student will enroll, or needs to enroll, in an institution of higher learning. But all should put education first and make it a priority if they want to contribute to society and have a successful future.
This year's interaction with Senegal and South Africa offers an opportunity to learn more about our African-American history.
We should start by educating young people about the greatness and the history many African nations share with the world.
We should also tell young people of a time when it was against the law to teach African-Americans how to read and write.
And we should tell them of a time when black families would sacrifice all they had to educate just one of their children.
We need to promote and market the importance of education the same way Steve Jobs marketed the IPhone.
Education is a young person's passport to the future, and he or she must begin preparing for tomorrow{$326}today.

Leroy Robinson is a middle school teacher in Lawrence.

Now here is the article in in its entirety....all I have to add is Dr. Cosby and Afronerd approve of this message:

IndyStar.com-"Working Together works"