community

By Kevin L. McCormick

Tony Brown,

renowned

author, commentator and long- time host of “Tony Brown’s Journal” on PBS, enthralled those in attendance at the 8th annual Oakland County Em- ployment Diversity Council (OCEDC) Workplace Diversity Conference. Brown spoke on topics of diversity, education and setting high achievement standards.

“We are in the midst of a

permanent economic reces- sion that has lasted 30 to 40 years,” said Brown, “and that recession is caused by the per- sistent education gap between White students and Black and Hispanic students.”

Using an April 2009 McK-

insey & Company consulting study entitled, “The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools,” as a foundation for his discussion, Brown outlined the economic impact of the persistent gap in educational performance, the reasons he believes have contributed to the gap, and its impact of the gap on America’s economy and the Gross Do- mestic Product (GDP).

Brown feels that the

achievement gap directly cor- relates with the creation of the Department of Education.

“We have had the Depart-

ment of Education for 40 years, and students’ perfor- mance has been flat for 40 years,” he said.

The trillions of dollars

spent on various programs by the Department of Education have not reduced or improved the achievement gap because, according to Brown, the money wasn’t spent correctly.

“The gap is due to the fact

that we have not been paying teachers enough and we didn’t have enough teachers. Now, states are having to reduce the pay and benefits of teach- ers in order to balance their budgets,” said Brown.

He continues by citing fig-

ures from the McKinsey report that shows how the GDP of the United States would im- prove by $2.3 trillion (or 16 percent) if the achievement gap between U.S. and other developed nations could be reduced, and American stu- dents’ performance improved.

THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE

Brown speaks on diversity at Oakland County diversity conference

standards early and training them to embrace the respon- sibilities of leadership is a key piece of the puzzle.

By setting high standards

for incoming students and then requiring them to main- tain or exceed those standards for the duration of their educa- tion in journalism at Hampton, some of the largest companies in journalism and communi- cations have expressed a keen interest in Hampton’s journal- ism graduates.

Brown believes that a focus

Tony Brown

“Diversity is not about

quotas, it’s not about taking jobs or opportunities away from Whites and giving them to unqualified minorities,” Brown explained. “That would be unconstitutional.”

“We cannot close the educa-

tion gap (educational achieve- ment level) in America without a diversity process.”

Part of the process that

Brown references when talk- ing about closing the educa- tion gap is support for stu- dents to be better prepared for each level of higher education they pursue.

He recounts multiple sto-

ries of students arriving at Hampton University in Hamp- ton, Va., unprepared to com- municate at the level necessary for college-level

journalism

courses. Brown’s solution to this

problem was to implement a support and remedial-writ- ing program called EGUMPP (Electronic Grammar Usage Mechanics Proficiency Pro- gram), an online assessment tool that works to improve the user’s grammar, word usage and writing efficiency.

Brown says that students

who utilized EGUMPP improve their scores by as much as 30 points on a 100-point scale; students who didn’t meet min- imum standards for the jour- nalism school before taking EGUMPP scored in the top 10 percentile after completion of the program.

Preparing students to be future leaders and setting high

Wayne County Community College District’s School of Continuing Education

INVITES YOU

TO THE

FREE!

�Books and Book Bags for Children

�Face Painting and Clowns

All Pre-K and

Elementary Students Welcome!

Downtown Campus

1001W. Fort Street • Detroit,MI 48226

For more information or to pre-register please call 313-496-2510

� Refreshments

�Give-a-ways while supplies last

� Fun n’Games

on high standards and holding everyone equally accountable against those standards is the most effective method for im- proving diversity in the busi- ness world and beyond.

He calls that process “Di-

versity through Excellence.” “In order to change society,

you must be a part of the lead- ership establishment that has the resources to change soci- ety,” he said.

It is clear that Tony Brown

has built his career on many of the principles he spoke to the OCEDC about, and at 77 years of stage, still seems to have as much energy and intellectual firepower as he has ever had.

Brown has had an impres-

sive and varied and career. He is most well known as the host of “Tony Brown’s Jour- nal,” the long-running public- affairs program on PBS. He is the author of several books and most recently served as dean of the Hampton Universi- ty’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communica- tions and currently holds the title of dean emeritus.

“My mission in life is to

communicate to humanity, knowledge and the truth to the best of my ability,” he said.

Tony Brown seems to be

doing that as well as he ever has.

Kevin L. McCormick is the

founder of Alchemedia Cre- ative, a communications firm that focuses on content de- velopment for its clients in every medium of communica- tion they engage in, includ- ing print, broadcast, Internet and social media. He can be reached at Kevin@alcheme-

diacreative.com.

April 28-May 4, 2010

Page D-7 Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32