justice earl warren of the supreme court. if you want to know why i threw cold water on that option you have to read my other book. eisenhower and civil rights. chapter five. eventually i shut down every argument against running and convinced himself that he would be healthier serving then retiring. i'd also feared that no one else could prevent a nuclear holocaust. in january 1956 eisenhower was informed that the nuclear exchange with the soviet union, 65 percent of the american population would be casualties. years later chief of staff sherman adams said but surely applies to president obama today, the real reason the president wants to run again, and said, is because he doesn't think anybody else can do is give a job as he is doing.

>> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. >> next on book tv, an educator and author steve perry talks with fellow offer about his latest book, what he calls his solution oriented manifesto to better education, including how to get rid of bad teachers and make boring school curriculums exciting. >> thank you very much. the key for being here today. i think your in for a treat. this is really one of the great leaders in american education and a voice that needs to be hurt, not just on cnn, but also through this book. i want to get right to the action. this is a provocative title book. push comes to shove, push has come to shove, giving our kids the education they deserve. what do you mean? >> enough is enough. there is no more rules or our

children to be felt by the system. finally have an opportunity to transform education as a note, an opportunity now like we have never had before because 20 years ago, just 20 years ago if you told us that poverty and race, the parents' education and your you live to determine the capacity of a child, we don't have to believe it. twenty years ago there were no charter of magnet schools. now we have seen with successful schools and classrooms all over in some of the worst performing school systems in the nation these great opportunities for education are taking shape. and newt truth is being written every day. the problem is we are to patient, too patient hoping and praying that one day this school will be better. if you just reform the school, but the new name, new theme, move this principle and, that principle lot. that is all we need. i don't think we have any more

time to waste. we have given up all of the children that we can. we cannot afford to lose another generation. if you do not work in education, if he had not been on the front line, and telling you from a is worse than you can ever imagine. the circumstances are far more dire than you could ever imagine. so the good part of it is that we have solutions. they are at our fingertips. we absolutely know how to solve these problems. push has come to shove. enough is enough. >> are you telling me in these people that poverty in a very jealous family with all the disadvantages, we can educate the kids to the top? >> you are talking about kids once upon a time he did drop the the circumstances and many more who are growing every single day. if we are america, if we truly are the america that we say that we are then we have to believe, even if it were not true that it

is possible that every single child in america can be educated. think about it for a second. we know for a fact because we have seen is example after example of successful schools. they are not anomalies. we can read homophony morph. we've seen his work. ron clark. we have seen his work. you can go through the country and run your hands across preschool after greece school. what they say, the opponents of it, the teachers' union, all those people support the status quo and failing children. they will tell you that there is something different about those kids. you have to pick those kids. only successful because i believe there are only successful because they are designed to work. i believe in every fiber of my being that the reason why some children are successful and some children are not is simply

stated this school they're forced to attend. if your family has the means and rare with all to send you to a good school life is going to go all right for you. it doesn't mean that they are so smart just because they have more money. some of us might have met people who seem to be relieved of the, not necessarily the smartest people you run into, but if you have the resources to make sure your child is in a great school, you can make things better. and because we as a school continue to grow. i don't display a principle on television. i really am one. i was a work this morning and came down here to make sure i have a conversation. "we see when we visit schools is that it is what is happening in the schools. when you find the most successful schools will you will find is someone to be there. we also see children, we call on smart because recede and doing

something that they love. i don't know that they're so smart that we can create inspiring educational experiences every single day for every single child. >> like you just said, not just for a tv. what are you tell us a little bit about hopper the kids use served in the back rows there from. >> capital prep is a year-round college preparatory middle and high school. this year we are going down to pre kate. one of the reasons why is, i'll be honest with you. i hate losing. i understand somebody has to lose, i just don't understand why it has to be meet. we keep losing because we get kids in the sixth grade who are for grade levels behind. i actually believe that it is criminal. if an attorney tells her client that way, if a physician or to

tell their patients that are, if the hair dresser parts fail. -- >> stock rose something else. >> if anyone were to fail at that rate, there would not be allowed to stay within the field. there would be asked to leave, summarily thrown out. as educators, we say, well, you know, poverty. 70 percent of our children are poor. in fact, our school is so black and latino -- this is not a joke. the state was going to closes down this year. we were to segregated. 86 percent of our children are black and latino. 70 percent port. they said our school was too black. i was going to get t-shirts that say got white people just because we want to make sure white folks feel comfortable.

they can give shutdown. out on the hot making sure white people feel comfortable in our school. it seems to happen. this year we didn't have white people. >> all right. those white people know what they're doing. of tell you. >> you know what is funny. what i found -- if you know anything about connecticut, it really is the tale of two cities. you find abject poverty makes extreme wealth. there is no milk, no buffer because the state is so small. there are these imaginary lines that they call school districts that keep some kids in and will allow some other children to escape. what we have seen is that children are coming from the wealthiest school districts to our school because they have seen what we can do with children from his toward the disadvantaged population. we know a good school and therefore we're going to send

our children to the school. >> this is interesting. connecticut is a state that performs almost at the top in the united states, but at the same time it has the largest achievement gap between its white students and its black students. that is an amazing fact. if connecticut to perform so high for its white students this seems to me it should be able to solve this problem. now, and going to ask you a few questions i will make people think you're some kind of right-wing learned to it. before i do that i want to establish a little bit about you. tell me about your background, politics, and so forth. >> i was born on my mother's 16th birthday. the third generation of poverty. here is what i think about the story. so what. it doesn't really matter from where you come. if i put too much stock in

something that i had no control over like my queue or to whom i was born with the fact that by the time was a freshman in college my father was imprisoned then i wouldn't be able to do my job. my job is to look and see what doesn't exist and find but only daydream of and to do everything in our power to surround these children the people who love them so much that they're willing to do everything that they can imagine to get them to the next place. you know, it is very easy. you hear me talk about this unabashedly. teachers unions in particular because they are the biggest problem in public education. it is their absolute objective to maintain the status quo because the status quo and extended paid. be clear, this notion of labor versus management, teachers and teachers. a principal was a teacher.

the story that i think is most important is that when i was running the organization which is an upward bound program, i'm not sure how familiar you are, but there were only with low-income students who will be the first in the family to go to college and spend 100 percent of those on to four year colleges his amazing because i was one of those. i'm not just the hair club president, but also a client. what i saw trouble me. i saw children that i would work with over the summer and our six week summer academy and get them going. then we send them to these raggedy schools where there would fall apart again. and within two weeks things will fall apart. and it wasn't the kids because i had just seen in. at the end of one summer to apparent said to me, some moves to the suburbs.

to your point. if i move my jobs to the suburbs the lowest round of class. why this program can become its own school. i felt like it was more of an indictment and a question. here you are part of the problem. you're part of the system. i never thought of myself as being part of the system fair. i might be dressed up like belonged to part of the system, but i'm clearly not. as my bosses. when she asked me a question i don't know. then she said, she started with the question, why is it only rich kids get to schools? i don't know you well get, but i can't imagine any of you, even if you are rich, feels like that is okay that you have to somehow be born into wealth in order to get access to a quality school. i don't care how much money you

make. i don't think that sits well with anybody, and it didn't with me. so we took a program intended into a school, the type of school we want our own children to go to, the type that i can mckuen the faces a guarantee you will give you a world-class education if you give me access to your child. >> you just mentioned, in a provocative league titles chapter. at the other rescue. teachers' unions are the worst things that ever happened to public education. explain that. >> the very purpose of the teachers' union is to make sure that there protect the rights of the adults. that is their sole charter. their charter is to ensure that the employees keep their jobs, come what may. they don't want anything that can stand in the way white student performance or the lack thereof to be used against them. investors may in most states and cities you simply can't use

student performance to determine whether or not a teacher is effective. the reason is because the union says fought for it. there would be too many cowards who will be tense liz and superintendents and assistant superintendents to fight back. very few cowboys and swashbucklers who will stand up to them. as a result, these organizations can set up a system whereby children are forced to attend the schools that are closest to their homes. nasty to think about this in any other industry. imagine if your mother needed an ecologist. there was one just at another hospital, but the hospital is close to you that is now you're never a hospital. doesn't have the best oncologist. would you for a second except that? no. we are telling children and families and most important decision that any of us can make

as parents, the most important decision. where to send your child to school, that you have to send your child to a school that is closest to the house. the reason that is so is because the teachers unions and other organizations like our good friends at the end n.a.a.c.p. who fight to maintain the status quo said that these adults can keep their jobs. i don't give a damn. that is not my point. i'm here to make sure a children kid and education. i'm not an employer, i'm an educator. i pay people to teach people things. very few jobs you get that the tell tells you where you do. publishers published. if the dumping of books out there not a publisher. simple. teach 60's. talking doesn't mean he taught it. if the children haven't minded you're not a good teacher.

these organizations make it virtually impossible to fire bad teachers. people often confuse me. they think, charter school. i work for a superintendent. a native virtually impossible to get rid of teachers. how many teachers to do as the rate of in the year? >> of the 55,000 we get rid of a. >> i mean, on. you really think that all those teachers i that could? the reason why that is so is because the teachers union has fought and lied to people about the conditions that create this. we know that children can succeed is given the opportunity to go to a good school. we know. no more questions about it. the reason why some of you live in the neighborhood that you

levin and you get. you live in a good neighborhood where they have a good school system. to, because of certain integration opportunities you can send your child to magnet schools. the suburban kids. and then you pay to send them to another school. but you will exercise your education options. what the unions have done is they have said point blank that if you live in this neighborhood is a job must go to this school no matter what. and if you don't we are going to put laws in place to say that you will be arrested and charged as a felony for daring to send your job to another public school. it's disgusting, and they ought to be ashamed of themselves. price of bin talal lot of things, but nobody ever called me a cowboy or saucepot collect. i never heard rais "call me that. listen to read what are the two or three key things?

why what is the magic ingredient in this sauce of a grace "inadequate to our kids need to come from challenges to environments or other environments to back. >> to release simple ones. we talk about the lot. the first is love. bizarrely. you have to love kids. you have to the honestly loved children. i mean, my two sons come into my school next year. the two weakest teachers in the first grade and he said to my that he would fire their assets. i'm going to. i don't feel any more rust. my pace isn't any more quickened

for my son than it is for any of the other children. you have to love children. that is the first thing. the second is choice. choice is essential. we often don't realize that things it is essential. if you have more than one child you know that none of them are the same. take it all looked exactly the same and be completely different. boy to grow, all that stuff. you have to argue. you have the one who is the taskmaster. and then every version of a person you find in these children. well, why would we think for a second that you could send all children to the same exact school and there would all get something out of it? it is an absurd notion really, and this is 2011. people with means to make choices to send their children to schools that meet their interests. so i? if your child is artsy in do

have the money you sent into an art school. if your child is into technology center internet tech school. whatever the fate is. children who are inspired perform well. so if you love children you design a school that meets their needs. when you have a choice there is a fit. >> so why did you write this book? you have a day job as a principal. i see your face on cnn all the time. you're doing inspirational speaking all around the united states. president have a choice. i didn't. this is where i am. by want to use every moment that i have come every day. i think we are all on some level taking life for granted. regis to. i don't have a choice. i am called to do this. i don't know what else i do very well. this just might be my only son. i'm working the angles. >> on that we certainly agree. >> i know. because that is the case i had

to tell parents the truth. you have taken the brunt of the responsibility for the failed school. it is not your fault. there are areas that are your fault. don't think you're walking out of here without something to do. i'll give you something to do in the book. one of the things we talk about is how you can organize. it is all passe now. egypt was turned over. somebody had faced. i wrote the book before that. that is what you to understand that. it takes a little while to get books out. that being said, i kid my editor. that being said, there is a lot in the book that you can use to your advantage right now. when you read it and so, okay. i can do an audit of my home, take a look at the way i spend

my time and space and how i can use this more effectively to help my children perform while. there is that. more importantly, i want parents to understand that you have to change the school system. one of the chapters in the book is called sue. i want you to sue the public schools for damages because weekend at a dollar value to a person's education. forget the civil-rights stuff. you can march all you want. i don't look good marching. i am not just for that. you should honestly considered suing the schools because then you can begin to get someone's attention. then you can take the money and send your child to an dispenses school now. why should you have to wait until somebody decides it is okay for a couple kids to get out. what is the story about the charter schools?

>> an amazing story. just this year we had 64,000 parents apply to charter schools. 13,000 slots to get in. 51,000 parents wanted charter schools and could not give them. the same time the teachers union and the naacp had sued the city of new york to block the opening of 19 new charters next year. that is the story. >> it doesn't matter, and this is one of the things that we talk about in the book. it you don't have to believe in charters. i want to make it clear. i don't think that charters are inherently better than magna schools of local public schools or private schools. i don't think that any class of school is inherently better. good schools are better than bad schools no matter the classification. i believe the choice. one of the things the government does really well is gift choice.

if you look at section eight medicaid and medicare, student financial aid to many people think they don't believe in dodgers until you realize, when a minute, i kind of do. if you believe in student financial aid you are a fan of vouchers. you can go to bremen university with a federally backed or federally funded grants. it is a church school, y'all, that you can spend your money at. you can't spend your money at st. mary's has cooled. doesn't make sense. you can send your child the joys town. the dog jesuits and the basketball team. boston college, not allowing jesuits on the basketball team. however, you clearly can use federally funded monday to send

it children to the schools. you can go to israel, hospitals with medicare and medicaid, federal money. clearly we don't have the money. to the problem. you can take section eight and live anywhere you want. public money used for private goods and services, and it works. those other organizations, they don't have a gun lobby as the american federation of teachers and they in the a. they win and so we get educated then restart to realize that the game is changing and we don't have any more children to lose. push has truly come to shove, and the opportunity right now to save our children right now where ever you are anywhere in this country. >> one last one for you and then we will see if the audience as any questions. you're going to publish a book this fall. i assume you will be out on speaking tours to rock world. what is next?

part of it is to see the odyssey he has been on the mall where he started to my house and get into the game, how he thinks about it. remember, there are all sorts of people who are willing to take this guy who is now a principal. that is dispensable job, take this guy, but him on tv full time, give him jobs in business and so forth. his principal name is suraya school for kids, particularly needy kids. what is the future for steve perry? >> i want to open the school in hartford. we start back on july 5th. that's what i do. i'm a principle. i will be out selling the book on the weekend. you know, there is a story in the book. i don't want to give it away. give it away. no. there is a story in the book about really the best and worst

day of my life. there is a very famous educator who called me on december -- didn't call me, text to be on december 204th. i was in sunny mill town connecticut. he was an -- >> new york city. [laughter] >> a very steady place. that story is really why wrote this book. i feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity that i have been given. i don't think there is anything special about me except that i just really love kids in a losing. those two things together are a good combination when it comes to being a principal. and as a result of that i have been offered opportunities to take other jobs, sir run

districts. we have some friends who i have already said no tall the superintendent jobs have been offered, even when my good friends text me on christmas eve and say don't say no, just listen first. >> i tested him on christmas eve. i didn't even have the courtesy to say merry christmas, as a family. i tested him and said don't say no because i know he's going to say no. a captain open mind fred least ten of 15 minutes. >> i don't like doing anything as much as i like being a principal. i'm sort today because the s in staff basketball game yesterday which we want. important that tell the children that. and i'm yelling at you from the stand, the reason why is because i'm better at this than you.

i just did what i do. let's being out front greeting children every morning. it tv stuff has his place, but only to spread this gospel of what we do in real life. that will come and go. people come and go. it will come a time when publishers won't want anything to do with me, but i will still be a principal of a high-school. my house is paid for. yellow going to have to shoot me if. i'm going to run my mouth from here on out. it's a wrap. a brother as a place to live. my kids' college is taking care of. i have been grinding. it is what is right now. i am focused on making sure that everybody understands. our children are beautiful and amazing and they can be successful. they do not have to accept failure as a part of their life. it is not necessary. we don't have to lose another

child, and not every losses a death. it's not life or death all the time. sometimes it is a suburban kid to doesn't just fit into the large suburban high-school and just kind of taps out and doesn't really feel like he belongs in dozen ever realize that he had a cure for cancer and her never going to get to experience that because he didn't go to the right school. is not cool, and it doesn't have to be that way. unless you talk to the superintendent, i think i have a job. >> wait until next christmas. >> my next present for me. >> if anybody has a question you can come up here. ..

>> and i remember because it reminds me so much what i find about steve. there's a school here in brooklyn i heard a lot about. i had teamed up with somebody in the private sector. it was a crackhouse. we turned it into a school building called excellence academy. it was about 100% african-american and latino males, no women. that is as challenging a group to educate in terms of the demographics. and i had heard good things about it. so i got there one morning, and a kid was checking in if, and he turned to me and said, good morning, chancellor. look, you know, i've been in, literally, a thousand schools in new york city. no one knows who i am, you know? if there's a media person there, the kids whisper, who's that, the mayor? they have no clue.

i asked this kid, what's your name? he said, jamal. i said, can you tell my what you're doing here at the excellence academy? he said, he's a kindergartener, he said, i'm on the way to college. i said, you're hustling me. you're in kindergarten, what do you mean you're on the way to college? he said, you know, chancellor, it's never too young to think about that kind of thing. now, when every kid in every classroom in every city in kindergarten starts telling you they're on their way to college, that's when it's going to happen. and guys like steve perry are going to make it happen because he's not going to put up with the status quo that's denying kids who grew up in poverty and particularly kids of color who look like him, that's denying them an opportunity at the american dream. thank you for doing this, my friend. [applause]

>> [inaudible] i'm a lawyer, went to law school -- [inaudible] um, i am a reverend, an interfaith reverend, member of every religion, actually, and i'm very interested in developing a child that's fully spiritually enlightened, you know? which religions don't do and parents don't do. and i was wondering, what are the -- bye, commissioner. what are -- is it possible legally to teach meditation, yoga, how to become a good spouse? how to become a good person, how to love yourself in a public school? >> the question was, is it possible to teach spirituality in school? >> yeah. >> and i think the answer is yes. um, but i think it's even more

important that we allow children access to choice. i say give the child the voucher, let him attend a religious school and keep it moving. you know, i don't think that every child should be submitted to something that they do not wish to learn. if you want to learn, like, for instance, if someone wants to go to an all boys' school, i think they should be allowed to go to an all boys' school. i don't think there's anything wrong with that. morehouse college is an all men's college. there's nothing wrong with that. so i think that when you allow children access to the schools that make the most sense to them, then you get the most out of it. on friday we'll have graduation, and every single kid who will line up at our graduation is going to a four-year college. every single one. because we are the right school for those children. now, the conversation i had today with an eighth grade woman, eighth grade girl's mother was about a girl who's not right for our school

anymore. she's the wrong kid. she's been there for three years, she's just not doing what needs to be done. we have a thousand children on our waiting list. one of those children should have an opportunity, she should have an opportunity to go to the right school for her. so every school is not for everybody. now, oftentimes we overstate how many children come and go from successful schools, but the truth of the matter is it's about fit, and it's about finding the right school. >> but you -- with all due reverence to you and respect, you haven't answered my question. i don't mean to -- >> i said yes. >> is it legally possible to do that? >> i said yes. >> definitely? thank you. >> we have another question. >> hi, dr. perry. my question is how do you overcome these situations that take place in a student's home such as if they don't have food at home, or they have emotional

problems at home and get to the point where you can inspire and then educate them? >> question was, when children have a situation where emotional troubles at home or they don't have food at home, how do you overcome it? >> we have free lunch as they do in every public school. we have free breakfast as they do in every public school. but more important, we love them. really. i mean that. when a child knows you love them and you're willing to go hard for them, they're going to have to do what they have to do. if you've ever worked with children, you know the following: when a child feels loved, they'll do anything for you. whether it's a stranger, a coach, a parent or someone they know, in fact, if you've ever worked in the hood, for instance, and you know and the kids love you, man, nothing bad can happen in that classroom. because that, you know, shemika will light somebody on fire because they know ms. such and

such is doing right by 'em, and, you know, what are you doing, girl? she was talking bad about you, ms. . but that's not your job. let me take care of that. but when a child -- you can go to the, you can go to the worst neighborhood in the worst part of the community, and you can drive your car there, and you can kick the doors open, turn the radio on, turn the keys on, and this is my car and you are a protected citizen. you are like royalty. but when children don't think that you love them, you could sit in your car with a club on it and low jack and a dog on the side of it, and they will in a couple -- take everything off your car, leave you sitting on the ground naked. children need you to love them. and by loving them, you give them the education that they deserve. we overstate the impact of poverty and parent circumstances on children's lives. we really do.

we really do. it's not that big an issue. that sounds crazy for me to say that, but when you put a kid in a situation where six and a half to eight hours a day they're in our building, i already fed 'em in the morning, i fed 'em in the afternoon, i got a granola in my pocket not for me, but because when we go shopping, my wife and i shop at sam's. so we buy extra food. so you come, i got a refrigerator in my office, i have granola bars in there, i have, um -- i don't eat all that stuff. i have cereal in my office, i have all sorts of things. and i'm not the only one. many of my staff do. if it's a food issue, that's a solvable problem. but more important than giving the child the food is feeding their soul. because they're not going to get full off the granolas i'm giving 'em, but they have football practice, and i can't have them going there when the last time they ate was 11:30, and practice goes until 6, 7:00.

we create this mello drama. ful i'm telling you, cut that -- i'm telling you, cut that out. they're going to be there. you will see the most successful schools the attendance rates are like 95-97% a day. you can't go to suburban schools and see that lev of attendance -- level of attendance. even boarding schools don't have those levels of attendance. when a child has access to a school that they feel loved and a part of, that child is going to do everything in her or his power to please the educators in their life. so i say to you, do not be fooled. poverty and wealth, they're just economic brackets. that doesn't mean anything. in the end, even rich people, even rich people make sure they get their kids into good schools because if wealth was enough, then they could just send their children to horrible schools. but they don't do that. even rich people who have all the resources at their disposal make sure they still send their kids to a good school.

so i'm saying i want to make sure that all children have the same resources that everybody has which is, simply put, access to a quality school. thank you so much for your time and attention. [applause] >> you're watching booktv on c-span2, 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books every weekend. >> we asked, what are you reading this summer? here's what you had to say.

>> send us a tweet at book the using hash tag summer reading to let us know what you moon reading this summer. you can also e-mail us, booktv@cspan.org. >> good evening, everybody. i'm michael aron, senior political correspondent at njn news with two esteemed colleagues from the media, josh margolin who made his name at the newark star ledger in this state but is now at "the new york post", and ted sherman who continues to make his name at the newark star ledger. and most recently we did the story on the sewage commission which sure meant a lot to chris

christie because he went after it -- [laughter] and sort of turned it upside down, and about 100 people fell out and haven't gotten back up yet. which is what this book is somewhat about. it's about the downfall of a number of people who were not expecting to be taken down and who have all or many gone to prison as a result and whose lives have been ruined. and you all remember, i'm sure, what triggered this book or the incident that this book is all about, the mass bust on a day in july in 2009 of political figures mainly in northern new jersey and rabbis from the shore, from brooklyn, from the

orthodox community. these two guys decided to write a book about that case, and i want to start by asking them why. josh, why write a book about this case? >> because nobody understood what happened, why it happened, when it first happened in july, '09. ted and i were as close to it as anybody who wasn't handcuffed -- [laughter] and, frankly, we didn't understand it. we'd come into the office on a muggy july morning having been tipped off the night before that something big, quote-unquote, was going to come down. and in new jersey there's always something big, and there's always a politician getting arrested, and there's always a corruption case. but, my god, we're there, and we're getting reports from our, from our colleagues that are out in the, you know, out at fbi headquarters or in brooklyn. and it's a dozen politicians.

it's two dozen. you had rabbis in their long black coats with their ritual fringes flowing in the breeze. you have the deputy mayor of jersey city who shows up, you know, handcuffed. she's 70 years old, and she's wearing a low-cut dress. what is this? what had happened? >> well, she was a former burlesque queen. >> and that's a different story, we didn't even know that. all we knew was we had this deputy mayor, and she's getting perp walked. and we hear there's an informant in the middle of it, and the feds won't say who it is. and no one understands -- the first thing no one understands, how it came together, and then when you finally found out, when we finally found out what it was that tied everything together and led to these arrests, we still didn't understand it. why would anybody take you back, why would anybody trust solomon