?Your Moment?

VOL. 126 | NO. 207 | Monday, October 24, 2011

By Andy Meek

Updated 1:46PM

Dr. Steve Perry, the principal and founder of Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Connecticut, tweeted a warning Thursday, Oct. 20, before he came to Memphis to speak at the request of the Lipscomb Pitts Breakfast Club about children and education.

CNN education contributor, author and school principal Dr. Steve Perry addresses a crowd of business leaders and students during a Lipscomb & Pitts Breakfast Club event.��
(Photo: Lance Murphey)

?Headed back to Memphis tonight to meet w/ business leaders,? tweeted Perry, an unrelenting evangelist about education reform who speaks frequently on the topic. ?Honestly, I ain?t comin all the (way) down here just to talk.?

Perry, who?s also a bestselling author and CNN contributor, has now been to Memphis 10 times. And he reiterated the message conveyed in his tweet as he stood before an audience of youngsters Thursday night at the BRIDGES facility Downtown.

He pulled no punches. He laid blame where he saw fit. And he urged the children before him ? and those around Memphis ? to take responsibility for educational opportunities they deserve.

It was an especially blunt ? albeit timely ? message at a moment when the city and county school systems are in the midst of a complicated, court-ordered process to merge themselves into a unified whole.

?Your school system is robbing you of the life you deserve,? said Perry, speaking in a general sense about achievement gaps among students of different ethnic groups. He was also referring to the complacency he sees as hard to shake off among some groups of students and their parents.

?Not one of you asked to go to a subpar school.?

CNN education contributor and school principal Dr. Steve Perry, second from right, speaks with the Rev. Colenzo Hubbard, right, LaVerne Comerie-Hubbard, left, and Lisa Leach during a Lipscomb & Pitts Breakfast Club event.
(Photo: Lance Murphey)

Perry urged his audience of school-age children to ?push the powers that be? and demand higher-quality schools. But he also advised them to do their part: to dress appropriately, to not cut up in class, to do their homework and apply themselves.

And he distributed praise throughout his presentation.

?Every time I come to Memphis, I meet more and more beautiful children,? he said.

In addition to founding Capital Preparatory Magnet School and ConnCAP (Connecticut Collegiate Awareness Program at Capital Community College), Perry is the author of ?Man Up! Nobody is Coming to Save Us,? and has given more than 200 radio and television interviews in the last three years.

A quote from comedian Bill Cosby displayed on Perry?s website, www.dr-steveperry.com, about ?Man Up!? calls the book ?pure gold.?

In September, Perry published ?Push Has Come to Shove: Getting our Kids the Education They Deserve ? Even if it Means Picking a Fight.?

?I want you to want to come back to Memphis,? Perry told his young audience. ?I want you to want to raise your kids here.

?This is your gut check. This is your moment. Are you going to save Memphis??

Source: http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2011/oct/24/your-moment/

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