What is Equity and Why Do Our Children Deserve it? | Rodney Robinson | TEDxCharlottesville 

As a teacher of 20+ years, this is the most heart felt, passionate and necessary call to action for children in the classroom, that I have ever heard! I am sharing this on every chat, website, social media and network of which I am a part.

Wow. I’m not one who is easily moved, but this what every one sitting in a political office and educational office needs to not only hear but apply! 👏🏾👏🏾

Equity = free, without effort Equality = equal footing, fair start

So inspirational beyond academics....it’s about believing in yourself even if it requires a helping hand and someone else to believe in yourself

Thank you for this inspiring message. The power of unconditional love and true equity are what truly change lives.

Sounds like what people need are positive role models, encouragement(someone to believe in then), and an occasional second (or third )chance.

I would like to see is a world where all children have a chance to live up to their full potential. Isn't that what all parents want?

It's not the color of the teachers skin it's how gifted and motivated they are - the salary is one aspect but much more important is accountability. The funds need to reach the class rooms and not the pockets of administrators or the likes. Equity as in equality of outcome is dangerous and will never work. The only thing that will work is to enforce with no exceptions equality before the law and equality of opportunity on every level.

"We have to provide them the resources they need, not what is equal or fair." Immediately followed by an example with inequality of schools which is not equal or fair, admittedly failing students. Should we just move all the kids with lower abilities to the better school? What metric would decide what children are deemed in need? The lowest grades, the lowest incomes, the most absent, race? That would incentivize lower performance at a younger age or based on race it would reinstate segregation. Would that help society or educational endeavor? That would be equity... No, we should make sure public resources are provided in equal measure to all children. The fact of the matter is equity is already practiced in eduction. The highest cost per student in public schools nationwide is already spent on the lowest performing inner city schools; it is simply not effective from a resource standpoint. This is why those who push equity have lost the plot. They don't understand equity creates inequality. This kind of social engineering is the greatest variable responsible for inequality in the first place. Equity may be a good practice for parents, but it is not fair, just, or progressive for society to practice equity in governance.

I am 55 years old with very little set aside for retirement at this point. I have always been curious about the stock market and have witnessed some people who played the game right and retired early because they used the stock market. When I ask them, most said that they invested very little to start with, but their portfolio grew. I do have a significant amount of capital that is required to start up but I have no idea what strategies and direction I need to approach to help me make decent returns.

Mr. Robinson, this speech gave me chills. Your stories are inspiring, thank you for sharing and thank you for your knowledge and insight on what our education should be doing for our students to have equity. It is a shame we don't see more educators of color, and I am curious to why that might be and what the education system could do to increase those numbers.

His words on equity are something that I deal with daily in the education setting. Focusing on his words of how students do better when given the resources that they need would benefit all in our system of education. Just giving all students the same book without differentiation does do little to help the students become successful.

Thomas Sowell

Equity just means all the same, so we could all be equally poor, hungry, homeless, sick, etc. Equity is an awful thing and when enacted on society always has horrible consequences.

good stuff

Sounds to me that you were saying that these individuals primarily needed "Love" and "encouragement" not necessarily resources to succeed. Considering that everyone with a phone has virtually all the information known to man at their fingertips, the issue isn't that the government isn't providing what they need (Obviously there are some exceptions), it's that their parents/communities are failing to show them the love and encouragement that you speak of.

Equity is such a conniving concept.

The talk was supposed to be about equity. This was about giving a bad student attention/love and they got better.

it starts in the home

Equity means helping the people who are bringing down society and bringing down the people who are helping society.

This is an amazing thoughtful, compelling and well presented talk on why equity benefits all of our children. Thank you Mr. Robinson!

Words of wisdom...can't be any clearer than Mr. Robinson...we need more like him...THANK YOU, Mr. Robinson!!

equality, NOT equity

Hi

Human beings are born with different capabilities and capacities. Those who are free are not equal, and those who are equal are not free

Right on!

Teachers are now saying, don’t tell your parents we’re teaching you about equity and CRT.

Thanks for being a blessing

What a beautiful heart. I can hear his whole heart in this entire speech. As an educator in rural Georgia, let’s do this!

Equity takes my hard work for 4 years of long 12-16 hour days schoool/work to make someone equal to me. They did not sacrifice time money and fun. But it is your world. Equality is providing resources and let Americans do the work. This is a Nation of work

thank you Sir..god bless you.

The two schools might have been unequal as you said, but that does not mean that there was inequity. The differences could have come from how funds and resources are allocated within each school. Perhaps there was wide spread corruption at the second school. Schools in Baltimore and D.C. are rife with corruption. Books that were ordered and should have been in the hands of students have been found sitting in warehouses in unopened crates. It's important to know all the facts before taking action.

Fantastic and inspring, Rodney! Continue to GROW!!

Equity is exactly what we need in our school from the very beginning of our children’s education, taking care of their needs and talents. That was great and informative. Thank you. 🌿

I totally disagree with the emphasis on closing various types of gaps. I think it's okay to give every individual an optimal learning experience. If this means some groups or individuals accelerate away from others, so be it. It is my understanding that we are largely beneficiaries of those that have IQs over a 120. So I'm not okay diverting academic resources away from those that are cognitively gifted just so you can close gaps. Also, schools will naturally exacerbate inequities because individuals that are fast learners (high g) will accelerate away from the low g students. Which is fine with me! Schools don't need to close all the gaps. Instead they should be helping each individual move towards their potential. Don't throw all your money at the smart kids, and don't throw all your money at the slow ones either. It is especially important that you don't throw all your money at the students that are learning English as a second language. It is extremely important that we slow down immigration because they tax our academic resources with ESL programs and so forth, when the money could instead be spent on those that have a Heritage and history living here legally. I'd hate for music, robotics, or archery classes to be diminished or eliminated so as to allow funding for lots of special ed and lots of ESL courses.

YES!!!!!! This is such an important message! BIG LOVE!

4:07 You lost me at “not what is equal or fair”. Sounds like the beginning of a corrupt system, not a better one

Thank you so much for this video, I am a teacher going on my 13th year of teaching. I wonder how we can get more teachers of color at our schools? I am seriously asking? How do we get more people of color to want to be teachers? I am a white teacher, so I am unclear on this, and I ask because I don't know what to do, and want to help. I want the best for my students, and we only have a few teachers of color at our school. If people of color aren't applying to be teachers, or don't want to be teachers, what do we do?

well said

Okay I am going to object to his definitions. "Not having enough resources" financially was not holding back Herman Cain or General Colin Powell. Both came from poor backgrounds and both shattered the glass ceiling. How about IQ? Well our guest might be onto something about IQ differences. Schools have limited resources to deal with disabled kids. It's tough but true. Maybe the answer for schooling disabled children is home schooling?

I value MY money and MY children. My wife and I should have the right to confer as much advantage to OUR children as we can; and no one should feel it is their right to confiscate OUR wealth via taxes to give to others to level the playing field. If a family has good genes, a good work ethic, and is good at delayed gratification, they should be allowed to rise above those that don't.

No equity, diversity, or inclusion in pro or college sports. Only the best need apply

This is a twitter post that the Teacher of the year posted. *Who are Mitch McConnell's neighbors? I'm just saying Rand Paul's neighbor did what Kentucky hero should do. It's your turn to step up* He is of course referring to the Paul's neighbor who brutally attacked him without warning. The attack left Rand Paul with 5 broken ribs and issues breathing. It appears the good teacher isn't quite the person he would like others to think he is. Great speech but apparently not a great human being.

why does this only have 9 comments and 2,000 views

"Equity" is a curse by the laziest, to slow down the productive

Amen !❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I think part of the problem here is conflating giving someone specific attention because they are falling behind and having instructional policies that show favoritism to someone because they are a minority. Basically I am against affirmative action- you shouldn’t give bonus points to a student based on race. However ofc if you are a teacher it makes sense to help the students who are struggling with their studies more than other students… but why would you base this on the students’ race?

Why is it important for kids to have teachers that look like them? Wouldn't that perpetuate more of a mentality of segregation? Don't you think kids should pick role models on the basis of character, and not skin color?

Equity, racial equity, in DEI(Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is a Marxism resource re-distribution plan to achieve equal outcome. Race alone, cannot correctly summarize a person's life experiences, the nuances and personal choices etc., to justify differential treatment of individual. A person simultaneously belongs to many, many identity groups, each with so-called "privilege" or "victimhood" that are not universally agreed upon. Why only consider race, but not all the other identities, in terms of "privilege" or "disadvantage" in order to grant equity? Re-distributing education resources, and treating each person differently, in the name of racial equity, social justice, is discrimination. Equity adds new layers of injustice, and violate 14th amendment of equal protection in constitutional law, and against 1964 civil right movement spirits. We have to go back to EQUALITY. ***EQUALITY always trumps equity.***

You are going to work for what you earn just like the rest of us!

Sounds so good, but doesn't hold up. Some of the most vulnerable kids in society (inner city public schools) are funded far higher than not only other public schools in their state but nationwide the gap is huge in their favor. If we actually funded schools by 'equity' we would take money away from inner city schools and funnel it to rural schools in Mississippi or Louisiana... that would be 'equity' and also a very bad thing to do. Our problems can't be measured in $$, the key words to search for the REAL problems in public education are: unions, culture, community buy-in.

“We need teachers who LOOK LIKE our students”. Am I the only person who sees something wrong with that statement?

Equity means everybody should be admitted to Harvard, hv a mansion on the beach, hv a Lamborghini, summer house in the mountains, same salary as the president of the company. Anybody who cannot afford these things, then the gov should shoulder them. There would be no need to struggle in life or try harder to attain your goal bec it’s attainable.

Based on what the teacher in the talk said....I guess we need to start changing the number of students that can get sports scholarships to be equitable based on the ratio of people in this country by race.....smh

Turns out, 'equity' is one of the dumbest ideas every proposed. Want to ruin an institution ? Push 'equity'

Equality as humans yes, equal opportunity in school yes, this they have! The parents are not equal, do not provide help with homework and with the work you put in is the lifestyle you have, A = better lifestyle, F more struggles in life. Keeping a job requires work. You don’t just deserve a paycheck. You don’t just deserve a car. Heck, you don’t deserve a smartphone. In this country we are already blessed. Don’t let a poor culture bring your ideals down. You don’t have to be famous to have an A lifestyle. You do have to change personal culture and decide to be successful and work at your dream. Plenty of blacks from different countries prosper. The difference? HARD WORK TOWARD YOUR DREAM.

People should really do a decent amount of research before making comments on issues such as this. So many of these "American" thoughts are laughable.

JIBBERISH🤔

Ugh

So it sounds like one way to get an equitable and fully funded education is to commit a serious assault. Who would have thought? This is the exact reason that after 20 years of SERVICE in public education, I'm seriously considering walking away! Heartbreaking.

Listen to a few Thomas Sowell videos and go on a diet.

no mention of toxic femininity?? no care? Awarness? or do you suffer from cognitive dissonance ? you seem to be a smart character who thrives for a sense of equality..keep evolving.

Helping kids that need second chances and assistance is needed, but why are you confusing this with what color teachers need to be? Very dishonest way to oppress others who are not your preferred color.

It is sad that he promotes violence against conservatives! Not very cool for anybody let alone a teacher!!

“Equity” is a fascist concept

This guy needs to be in jail

"not what is equal or fair".... how about no on that. This message is divisive and misleading. He's mad at merit based achievement and wants equity so he can get the participation trophy. His mother saw that he needed to be more qulified to graduate to the club. He messed around and found out. a great lesson.

This man is using word games to make equity look like a good thing. He appeals to your feelings to make you think communism is a good thing.

If diversity is a strength then let's replace half of all white scientists and engineers with a minority. Dont worry that those replacements may not be as capable. Diversity alone is our strength.

I think Martin Luther King made a mistake when he believed we are all the same, we are not all the same. We need to embrace our differences and stop thinking that we should all be together. We can coexist but not necessarily be in the same schools together...this is actually in the bible ...we need to face what our society is facing right now and stop thinking that the American philosophy works for all, it definitely does not

I think that we should go back to all girl and all boy schools and perhaps separate the races but not giving one a resource and not the other is not fair. We cannot keep believing that boys and girls are the same or even learn the same. Nor should we assume that ethic races are the same or even learn the same. We need to face what is right in our face that mixing boys and girls and all races together is not helping. The African Americans are being brought up with white philosophies that may not match how they are internally. This hurts the white Caucasian students as well as the African American and we should not be intermarrying either.

EQUITY THESE NUTS FREE LOADER

EQUITY ME AND ILL CRUSH YOUR SKULL FOR YOU.