ABC Continuity Forum 2012: Cesar Conde, Roland Fryer and Jeb Bush Talk Education Reform In The U.S.

The Americas Business Council (abc*) Foundation kicked off its second annual Continuity Forum in Miami on Nov. 12, giving social entrepreneurs from throughout the Americas the chance to present their organizations in a bid to get two years of funding from abc*. The forum, which ran from Monday the 12th to Wednesday the 14th, covered three main topics: the environment, education and technology.

During the forum's second day, major leaders and innovators in the field of education spoke on the power of education in the Americas and what can be done to improve it. Cesar Conde, president of Univision Networks, Roland Fryer, Harvard economist and "Freakanomics" collaborator, and Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, spoke on three different aspects of the education system in America and how it must be improved for Latino-Americans. 

Cesar Conde

Conde, a former White House Fellow, was the first speaker to take the stage on Tuesday. As president of Univision Networks, Conde spoke on the power of corporate social responsibility and how his company had used its influence of the Latino community to make a difference in several issues, including education.

The 38-year-old said he realized early on that his company would need to partner up with the "best of breed" to best service the Latino community on the issues that needed to be worked on. "We cannot be all things to all people," Conde said. So his company partnered up with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create a coalition of 100 organizations called "Es El Momento."

"Es El Momento," which roughly translates to "now is the time," aimed to foster a college-bound movement among young Latinos. According to Conde, after his coalition began, matriculation in higher education institutions among Latinos increased by 22 percent. The coalition not only provides information to Latinos on the importance of higher education, but also grants scholarships to students in need. 

Roland Fryer

A Harvard economist, Fryer had a unique perspective on the state of the education system in the U.S. and the disadvantage black and Latino students are in compared to white students. Fryer told the forum's audience that he was determined to "change the odds" for minority students in higher education.

According to Fryer, there is not a city in the U.S. where more than 25 percent of black and Latino students read at grade level and that there is a 28 percent wage difference between blacks/Latinos and whites. The 35-year-old said that changes made to the education system in the past, primarily shrinking class sizes and spending more money, were not helping improve the system for minority students.

So Fryer became determined to find a solution to the country's education problem. His first solution, which he admitted earned him a lot of backlash, was to provide incentives to students for better performance. What he discovered was that when kids were given incentives for reading or doing certain academic tasks, they performed better on tests. However, when kids were given incentives based on output, they were unable to perform better on exams. Fryer also discussed charter schools and the different methods taken by charter schools to better fit the needs of students.

In the end, Fryer said educators must work towards changing the education system to better fit the needs of students. He told audience members that educators should remember that parents are sending their best children to school and that they are "not hiding the good ones at home."

Jeb Bush

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush spoke on a variety of issues that affect the Latino community during his closing speech on Tuesday. Bush, an advocate for education reform, said that Americans are not as upwardly mobile as they once were and that education played a large part in that.

The 59-year-old Republican said that the U.S. has to change how children are education. "We have an agricultural model in an industrial society," Bush said. He added that the education was far too bureaucratic, making it difficult to reform.

Bush suggested that educators move towards a "child-centered education" where children move at their own pace. Only then will children receive the best education to fit their needs, he said. Bush added that it is key to "make education a high priority."