the house of commons. later, members of the european parliament meet to discuss the uk's exit from the european union. thehis week on "q&a," former commissioner on education for florida and secretary of education for virginia, gerard robinson. his career and education policy in the united states. >> gerard robinson, when you think back to the time you were a fifth grade teacher, what do you remember? >> i remember the students who believed they could do anything in the world. i remember being an idealistic teacher who believed if we

install the right values, ideas and knowledge at age 10 or 11, by the time they are adult they can do wonderful things. host: what did you teach them? gerald: i taught geography and history and math and science who are shared with another teacher. most of the subjects and had the students. host: where was this? gerald: it was that the marcus garvey school and it was located a few blocks away from where i attended elementary school. host: who is marcus garvey? gerald: he was a jamaican by birth and he simply believed he

wanted to uplift people of african descent and they had to believe in themselves and have a collective economic coach. if you look at what he was able to do in galvanizing millions of black people but also in the caribbean, it probably doesn't get too much attention. host: what was it like growing up in your family? gerald: my father was an entrepreneur. he owned a restaurant and he believed in an honest days work. my mother was also involved with work. they instilled in me the importance of education. host: when did you move to los angeles? gerald: i was born in lake charles that then i went on a -- but within a month i was on a flight to los angeles were my parents already lived. host: what do you remember about your schooling there? you went to a community college first step. gerald: i came of age in the 1970's in los angeles.

it was the crenshaw district where they were mostly families who were transplants. many of them were part of the post world war boom. i grew up with my stepdad as well. and in my neighborhood, hard-working people who wanted to see their children do things dramatically different. host: can you member the first time you actually started learning something? gerald: my parents for the first ones who were my teachers. learning came into different -- in two different phases. i had a great memory of my fourth grade teacher and she is still alive.

and in her legacy i started a scholarship at a school called st. mary's. she was an art teacher and she used art to change lives. my real learning came at the community college level. i was a less than stellar student and at the age of 20 i got a grasp on how to read and write. host: el camino community college located where? guest: it is one of 100 community colleges that we have in california. it was a great starting point to me. i did not have the grades or the test score and did not have money. i spent three years at the el

camino college. i had wonderful mentors, ranging from elaine moore who was my counselor to raymond roney. they were the ones who said just because you arrived here does not mean that your life will have to be the same. host: why did you think you do not get good grades? -- did not get good grades? gerald: i chased women, i drink beer, i smoked marijuana, i avoided homework during football season. a number of my friends received academic scholarships but i was on the athletic track and it out was always that way. as long as i played football well, i was passed along.

my senior year i was injured and i was two inches from being crippled for life. i thought wow there must be a different compact and my social compact had ended. host: how did you have the accident? gerald: a 270-pound sophomore ran helmet first into my knee. i heard a crack and by the time i opened my eyes and was given the bad news that while i was two inches from being crippled for life i would be able to walk again but my football career was over. -- season was over. host: how long did it take you to mend and to change your direction? gerald: it took me about three months. i was willing to go step-by-step. then i moved towards advanced courses.

host: you went to howard here in washington, what did you major in and why? gerald: i arrived to howard and had an associate of arts degree in business. i decided to work for ibm and you know, apple did not exist. after taking one course i decided to change my major. i was interested in how ideas mattered. it was a tool of social science. host: you are naming some of these teachers. what is good in a teacher? what they do? gerald: they actually spoke to

the student on where i was at that point. they excited me about learning and they had high expectations for me. they do not give up on me. host: when you talk to fifth-grade, what techniques did you use? gerald: i let them know i was glad to be there teacher and every day would would try and say something good at the end of the day of what we learned in class. we also had field trips whether it was to a museum or going to a conference. there were things inside and outside the classroom. one of my favorite students ryan lawrence.

his wife was a howard graduate. host: what year did you teach fifth grade? gerald: i taught 1991 to 1992. host: when did you go to harvard? gerald: i went to cambridge in 1994 and earned a masters degree with a focus on education policy. i was trying to figure out how to use public policy to close the achievement gap but also to open doors of opportunity. i enjoyed my time there. today i am a resident fellow at the american enterprise institute. they have been committed to freedom and opportunity and free market values in civilized society. i get the chance to talk about

education and social entrepreneurship. host: what were the politics of your parents? gerald: they were both democrats and my realization of what it -- a democrat was was in 1978 when voters passed proposition 13. they changed property taxes and how they were used to fund schools. i remember my parents saying wow, the republicans have passed proposition 13. they support rich people and democrats support poor and working people. host: did you start thinking the same thing?

gerald: i was a democrat most of my life, up until 1992. i switched to the republican party. host: what was it that made you switch? gerald: we have had the riots after rodney king. school was closed and i ended up attending a number of meetings to figure out what we wanted to do. we would have to radically change on how we look at the work force. and i didn't see how the role of entrepreneurship free market was going to play. i switched my affiliation and have been a republican since then. my parents were shocked. it is still good fodder for

jokes but 20 years later dad passed, mom's still alive. i voted for both john mccain and mitt romney. host: did you get slack from -- kickback from your friends? gerald: absolutely. my wife is a democrat and she had a shirt for our middle daughter that said my mama is for obama. people ask me, what do you tell your children when you had an opportunity to vote for the first black president and you didn't. i said, when i have an opportunity to vote for the first black president, i would like to have someone that i

think is qualified for the job and i think president obama is -- has done a great job in many areas but i think mccain and romney would have done a better job. host: here is president obama using a phrase. let's watch this. president obama: making sure we are giving all of our children the best possible education. it is the single most important factor in determining whether they succeed. the key to opportunity, the civil rights issue of our time. host: do you agree? gerald: i agree that education has civil rights significance. in 2016, we are 62 years removed from brown versus board of education. we are a better nation than we

were in 1954 but the challenge is when you make everything a civil rights issue it has remedies. it usually includes more bureaucracy and an influx of cash. there is a big push to compartmentalize how we deliver things. host: you were chief of education in the state of virginia. how did that happen? gerald: i received a phone call from governor mcdonnell who was looking for someone as a nontraditional candidate. someone that had some experience and that believed public schools still mattered.

i interviewed for the job and i accepted. host: how long did you stay? gerald: i was there for the 2010-2011 legislative session. host: what was expected of you in the state? gerald: one was to implement the governor's education agenda and to assign the law the top jobs and we had a commission for higher education of over 25 people on the commission. we have got to change the delivery of education and so we had people in the public schools and historically black colleges

and our for-profit colleges that all contributed. at the k-12 level we strengthened our charter schools and expanded opportunities. one that is often overlooked was a college laboratory school. it was a bill that allowed schools of education to partner with the local school system and actually introduce their partnering with buford and actually introduced stem courses to middle school students. in a middle school that had declining enrollment. the big push is we have is inculcation, then matters a lot. we cannot wait until high school

to do that. in middle school, that is something that our legislation was able to do. host: stem, who invented that term? gerald: i don't know the person who invented it. you will hear presidents and mayors saying that it is important. -- steam is equally important to the civil rights era. i would also say that steam is important. it is kind of tough to do that work without having an artistic and creative approach. host: george w. bush had this to say. >> education in america is no longer legally separate. quality education for everyone of every background remains one of the most urgent civil rights issues of our time. host: again, urgent civil rights issues of our time. gerald: when he signed no child left behind he referred to a soft bigotry of low

expectations. when he speaks of civil rights he is speaking in that vein. education is an important civil right and has an important history but when he made the big push he at least opened up the door for the republicans in particular to see how we can actually use education and data and outcomes to make it better. -- schools better. you will hear me say it is important because it is but that was an example of the right using civil rights and the way the left has it. -- in the way the left has used civil rights. we still have a number of challenges. host: you mentioned no child left behind? what did it do? gerald: it did a few things. if we're going to have a competitive nation that we need

to make sure students are strong in english and math. they would have to test students and they would actually hold it accountable. and for the first time we were going to disaggregate data to see how children were doing. for decades our school systems were able to hide how poorly our students were doing. with no child left behind, we got to see it both good bad and ugly. host: you make a speech in 2004, here you are on video. let's see how much of this you still agree with. gerald: why do i look at school choice? in 1992, i was at the teacher at the marcus garvey school. one my favorite students walked up to me and said i have to leave because my parents can no longer afford tuition.

the principal said, we have is a petition and we would like to get enough signatures on a ballot so that we can push the voucher initiative so that we can get public money to children who can go to private schools. using the example that i had, i said this is an option for some students and not all. it is an opportunity that some students would take advantage of. host: where is california on vouchers? gerald: in 1993 i was able to get parents to sign this. the measure was defeated 70-30 and in 2000 a similar vote took place. we have seen the same thing happen in michigan. that is from the california perspective. charter schools have grown but if you look at the voucher movement, it is starting to take place.

host: why was it is 70-30 vote? gerald: it was marketed as an anti-public-school initiative. people don't want to hear that and it was going to quote on -- unquote, take money away from public education. people were still remembering those votes that happened with proposition 13. here is another example of us taking money away. california was part of a very public battle of finance. between an anti-public-school campaign, it's not hard to see where we lost. here is hillary clinton in 2015. mrs. clinton: the truth is the quality and opportunity and

-- equality, opportunity, civil rights in america are still from far from where they need to be. our schools are still segregated and they are more segregated than they were in the 1960's. host: is that true? gerald: no. i don't believe we have segregated schools. we have racially identifiable schools. to believe in 2016 that we have the same types of jim crow segregation is a shame.

the gao produced a report showing the number of schools with 75% to 100% of schools that qualify for free or reduced price lunch has grown. at the same time you have economist and one of his report he actually identified from 1980's to 2000, racial integration in neighborhoods have gotten much better but that is driven by a number of factors. i would not say we have segregated schools. but to believe we have jim crow today is ludicrous. host: if we are so are worried about segregation in schools, why do we have 100 historically black colleges? gerald: that is to assume they are historically segregated. take a look at my alma mater howard university. the first five graduates were white women.

we graduated whites long before public institutions allowed us in. we graduated a number of african-americans who were able to integrate professions. -- professions other than teaching and nursing. third, we helped create the black middle class. no more than military institutions are segregated because they work solely with people who want to go into the military. host: when you went to howard didn't enter your mind that most of the students were black, was that your choice? gerald: absolutely. a friend of mine was a howard student at the time. coming from los angeles and have

a reals nice to have conversation about education. third, i then and now has a very strong track record. for me, i was not investing in a segregated education, i was investing in education that would help me integrate the world you would not hear otherwise. host: here is condoleezza rice with a short 20-second comment. >> we need to get parents greater choice, particularly for parents whose kids are trapped in failing neighborhood schools. this is the civil rights issue of our day. host: why are inner-city schools failing? gerald: dr. rice comes from a family where her mother was an educator.

she knows firsthand the challenges of attending segregated schools. from humble beginnings in stanford. there are a few reasons why they have challenges. we have more under-resourced schools. funding is a challenge. we don't have the best qualified teachers. third, we need to make sure we have more parental engagement. there are a host of challenges but when we discuss this, we often overlook the role of families. there are ways we can overcome

poverty and education. -- poverty and the challenges i mentioned. host: we live here in a district area. there is a lot of federal money and it still doesn't work. why? gerald: in the late 1990's i worked for d.c. public schools, that was before we moved forward with vouchers and charter schools. d.c. had a few challenges. number one, there was a list of heavy-handed congress deciding how it should govern schools. there was a federal and local debate that goes back for over a century. while there were high concentrations of poverty you still have pockets of success. high school which then and now are still producing students. and then third, challenges that

making sure resources went to the right place. it wasn't because d.c. lacked a lot of money. there were a lot of school systems that they wish they had the kind of money. graduation rate was higher in 2016 than it was five years ago. host: if you look at this whole area, there is not a great difference between what teachers are paid in this whole area. there is a difference in what is spent per student. in your experience, how much does the money part of it matter? -- matter to get a good education? gerald: i believe money matters. where you invest money matters more. there has been a debate on the money matter. going back to the james coleman

et al. report in 1966. on one side of the fence you have marty west and dr. peterson at harvard who would say that money matters but if you look at the investments we have made from the 1970's forward while the increase in local money you see a pretty flat test score. on the other side of the fence you have others who have said that while that may be true when you actually take a look at states with increased their spending for students in different states you have seen a higher graduation rate and students who will earn more in the workforce. heather schwartz mentioned this

in her report, you are going to see better results. host: if you are asked for advice on affirmative action college entrance, what would you say? gerald: if it means you want to remove the barrier so first-generation students are able to get into school, there are two things i'd recommend. allow students to matriculate if they have the requisite scores and coursework to do well. we know that while the sat score will predict may be how will you will do your first the -- that should be in place is if you expect to be in college. to let students have not filled that curriculum is doing a great disservice to them and selling

the effort of affirmative action. daughter is going to graduate from college, 23- years-old. the middle is it eight years old, and the youngest daughter is five. i was fortunate to be able to be a stay-at-home dad for a while. i learned the role technology has played in expanding what students are exposed to. with my older daughter, cell phones, the computer in its infancy stage. the middle daughter, eight-years-old now, she was able to manipulate my iphone and ipad in ways that some 30-years-old were not. simply by watching meet do it. what students are exposed to, i am excited for them.

the five-year-old, we put her in a coding camp at age four because we believe code is important for the same reason that stem matters. it is darting to train her brain on how to think like ian engine near, how to look at mathematical computation in different ways while being creative in the process. so we're going to have girls who think that steam matters. brian: you were partway to florida and you spent 15 months there. what was the title of your job. gerard: title of education. role.uch the same implementing the role of in the work of governors got rock -- of as well as other

things. florida has over 54% of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch and 50% of them are african-american and hispanic. nape andts scores on other measures in some ways outperform white and middle-class students in other parts of the country. in low income kids and others and get great results. we had approximately 72 school students there versus virginia ath 132 systems which was little more rules and a different set of politics. brian: who controlled that? : the department of education has an database.

they will assess students in elementary and high school. we also have a urban school [indiscernible] students, hows are they doing in math, english, language, arts. it is called a national post -- report card because we are assessing students nationwide. brian: let me read from an article after you resign from florida and it is a lot numbers and i just want to break this down. robinson's tenure as educational commissioner was marred by controversies over florida's test-based school accountability system and failing scores on the

florida comprehensive assessment test. in may, school officials had to pass an emergency role to lower the passing score for the states of writing exam after realizing 73% of fourth graders and 67 percent of eighth graders failed this year's f cat. to aing the passing grade 3.0 from a 4.0 on a scale of six allowed a 80% of fourth graders " pass on par with 2011's -- to know those you numbers or most of the people by how does this work to somehow qualify for more money? bush washen jed governor of florida he made education one of his top priorities in the goal was to test students and see where they are and invest in people and

places where they needed to. florida'sied that on first assessment, a number of students failed. minute. say, wait a it is not as of students suddenly became illiterate and were not able to write in a matter of 30 days. something happened. we identified we raised standards in the assessment model for students. we communicated this to the school system but in the communication process we dropped the ball and as a result, what way,ere recorded students were assessed another way, into it was a challenge. i had a phone call with my board. when there are over 700 people on a phone call when you're talking to your bots, you know it is going to be interesting. we decided to bring in an outside person to do in internal

study and found out that i was identified in no malfeasance. our testingd that company, pearson, as well as the group in the brusca who put together our assessments did nothing wrong. the eight new score. introduced the tests. a went forward in better shape and students did well. to show you a years in june of 1952, 64 ago. in the middle of a presidential campaign. to listen to general eisenhower, he became president of the united states and what he said at about what the nation was facing back 64 years ago. eisenhower: the gradual usurping by the central

government by functions that belong to central communities and individual. , the springing out of this process, are manned by experts and self-perpetuation. to no profit in terms of the national welfare. bureaucracy, helpless to lead all nations to prosperity will do no better in america. brian: went to think about what he said about self perpetuation and the bureaucracy. a need forre is bureaucracy because there has to be something in place to help us administer policies at the state and local level but there are challenges with that as well. ronald reagan mentioned that bureaucracy was the problem. hate has been a love-

relationship with bureaucracy going back to when we were creating a new nation. there is a need. i see great things particularly in department of education, people hate departments of education. they see them as bloated, not useful. having worked for two, i tell you they do to great things. they serve as a central agency to articulate the will, policies, and goals of the administrative class in your capital city to the lower levels. it serves as a conduit between superintendence and school boards and the states. superintendents and school boards have a tough enough job trying to deal with what is testing mandates, funny, student achievement. think of them trying to do that simply by themselves. so there is a role for this. at the same time, we could streamline our process. brian: speaking of school

boards, president carter signed legislation's that he proposed to create the department of education. it became a department in the year 1980. a $12 beginning, it had billion budget. it now has a $70 billion budget. what have we gained from this? gerard: the department of education is a great cases three on what we can expect from bureaucracy. even know they gained executive level status in 1980, the department as we know it has its ordinance going back to march of 1867. shortly after the civil war. to do two things. have the department of education collect national information to figure out what is going on within this date and to ideas, andolicies, funding where they could. it went through a number of changes.

at one point it was in the department of interior, at another point it was in the federal security agency, and then found a home in the department of housing, education, and welfare and then it became a department in the 1980's. a good case study on how it had multiple lives even though today we still say there is no federal role for education. right: with the $12 billion --get, they intended to have republicans have been almost totally opposed to this. gerard: sure. ryan: why? gerard: they see the department of education not only as a tool to implement policy at the federal level that is thought to stateuld be left at the level. number two is curriculum. brian: when that legislation was

passed and the national education society was for it, the national federation of teachers was against it. what do you think they would say today, and the biggest unions in the country. the largest are combined teachers unions in the country, one of the larger worker unions in the country. nea natural would've been for the creation of the department of organization. the organization was filed in 1857, 1 of the few nonprofits to hold onto their original mission. one of the things they did the carter campaign was to endorse a president, which they had never done before. they said, we will endorse you the department moved to an executive cabinet level position and they published a report on why that would make sense. ryan: here's john lewis lewis, a 10-second comment.

>> education is a right. it is a symbol right. stand up north. fight for it. speak up for it. brian: comment. gerard: i agree with him. it years as a congressman, is a member having his head bashed in physically for fighting for people's rights. i agree with them. ofan: here's the other part it from john boehner. john boehner: education not to be the civil right of the 21st century. allow parentsto and children to have a better shot at education i believe in the core of who i am. in thecivil rights century. where did the republicans and democrats differ most? gerard: they all say the same thing. it depends on which area. john boehner when he was in speakers supported the d.c.

opportunity scholarship program, which is the current administration where would fully fund its program. someone on the school choice side of the fence as released to public schools, many democrats support charter schools as well as republicans. you find demarcation in private school space. republicans more often than not support vouchers in washington, d.c., milwaukee, louisiana. but you also have democrats have done that. if you look at the louisiana voucher program today which is statewide, when it began in new orleans it was to democrats who for thes matters hometown of new orleans. you look at milwaukee, someone like holly williams, a democrat. was financed campaign person for jesse jackson when he ran for president in the 1980's. she, working with tommy thompson, said vouchers are important.

at washington, d.c., the city council person for education and mayor anthony williams, democrats who said, vouchers matter. it is more nuanced then that that if you had to draw line, charter and voucher. headline, moynihan and the modern american family. i will read it back to. the moynihan report -- and this was it 1964, the secretary of the labor department of the time -- the report was not the first inquiry into the challenges of black lives. its findings struck shocked the nation. nevertheless what was most striking was the culprit moynihan identified -- the week emily structure in black communities. and you said the unwed mother percentage was 3.8%, by 2013, it

was 40 point 33%. i will put up on the screen some of the numbers you have. brian: what happened? gerard: the number of children growing up in single-parent doubled. same for expanding and same for weight families. -- same for hispanic and same for white families. you see an increase in the number of students who actually graduated from high school from single-parent homes. the number of students completing college within six years -- while not as great as we like -- a number of those are native first

generation are coming from single-parent family homes. one thing we would like to see from a economic standpoint is from two-parent homes, to incomes versus one, and my colleague at aei, bob door, writes about the subject. is annot assume poverty destiny or true for growing up in a home with just one parent. change forn things the better. my goal in life is to be a good public servant whether is a schoolteacher, scholar at aei, or as a regular average joe. ryan: how long is your contract with aei? gerard: as long as they want to not get rid of me. ryan: do you have a bucket list? it is nuanced. i spent some time focused on prison reform, particularly the

role of reentering citizens. who paid their dues to society who are coming back into their communities. over 600 thousand a year. are they academically prepared to participate in the labor force? many of them are not. also a particular focus on making sure that in the military, on the academic side, you know, were you find general to publisher reportedly identified that nearly three or four americans between the ages of 18-24 prime age are unable today to qualify for the military because of health challenges and academic challenges, that is a national security issue we do not talking of about so i am writing on that as well. i am also weighing in on the role of civil society. it is unrealistic to expect public schools and private schools to do the jobs by themselves. it takes faith-based communities, corporations,

nonprofit organizations, and others to rub their arms around teachers and schools to make society better. aian: i want to show you couple more visible public figures talking about education. one is the just-recent secretary of education and we will put that back with new gingrich. two different parties. >> the fight for educational opportunity and civil rights always has been and always will be inextricably linked. with reverendwork sharpton because i thought he came out with the most important big breakthrough. that is that learning has to be the number one civil right of the 21st century. brian: another's civil rights education. clinton ort

president trump called you into the oval office and said, if me three or four things we can do right away that will improve the in theon of people poverty community, won't you tell them? gerard: number one, invest money into teachers and programs that work and we have reach urge showing exactly how to -- we have research showing exactly how to do that focusing on teachers and support staff in hard to serve classrooms. number two, i would expand public and private choice to include tax credit scholarships and education savings accounts if we were to expand the opportunity. leader of the united states, should raise expectation that if education is the civil rights issue of the century, then surely the idea that knowledge and ideas matters of yourqually be part conversation.

ryan: would you serve as a public servant of the president asked you? gerard: yes i would given consideration. brian: here's a democrat that served in the george herbert walker bush administration. diane ravitch, you undoubtedly know. let's watch. -- nobody even knew who was on the committee to write it and at the time it was written, very few people were aware was being written. no participation, no effort to bring in people who are specialists in early childhood education. no one who was a specialist in education. kids with disability. there were no teachers on the writing committee. out of 27 people who wrote the common core standards, almost half of them came from the testing industry. the problem with common core added spaces is the problem with no child left behind. it is the assumption that the

answer to our problem lies in more tests, harder tests, more standards. that is not our problem. our problem is that almost 25% of the kids in this country live in poverty. to link her point to a couple videos. you showed the one with the speaker and secretary duncan. when some -- when secretary duncan left, i left a note congratulating him on his tenure. i think what he did, particularly in taking on the democratic party and a very forng union to really push teacher evaluations and professional development, want to commend him. you made a link with speaker gingrich. he is one of the brightest, smartest, forward-thinking people we have in america. i remember many years ago he decided to not only support the idea of school choice but i think he also stood in front of point that make the

the portion only for black empowerment but the idea we can lift all people from educational slavery is not something new to the united states. with push that for many years. she has worked both sides of the fence, one-time supporting choice and then calling into question. we should have an honest conversation about testing but to think you are going to get rid of tests will not happen within the next 20 or so years. brian: if a young person comes to you and says, you know, i had my what you do mr. robinson, but what should i do as a student? what were do recommend they do now as a student? gerard: read widely. read.uld not usually number two, i would say after you complete high school, you do not have to go to a four-year institution. you know, we are created in our culture a big push to put to and

through college. i believe college matters. graduated, myr other two daughters will as well. but the push that shows to do a four-year overlooks the fact there are a number of post secondary options. consider a trade school. community college for an associates degree, and licensure, a certificate. or maybe take time off. get a job. if you have an epiphany and decide, you know what benchmark i want to improve my skills? you could do some of that on line. look at it not as a four-year institution but as a lifetime endeavor. and heard, make sure at least once a month you go and see some ink of what we call culture. a play, a musical, opera. just once a month. brian: if you had the name the most important person in your life besides her parents, who'd you pick.

gerard: d dean of library services when i was a student. one day when i was begging his groceries at a grocery store at ralph's, he acknowledged he had and invited me to stop by his office and take shop. i walked past him and extended my hand. he squeezed my hand and pull me back and said, i said hello. i went, ojai. he said, come to my office. let's talk. for the next couple years at least once a month we would talk in his office. there were times i consider dropping out of community college. making decent money at a full-time job. could've made a decent living. as -- juststen, just because this is where you began does not mean this is way have to end. elaine moore was in that equation as well. she was my counselor and a

university.howard she helped me matriculate howard university and same with my daughter. same with probably over 100 students through her projects. brian: you were doing 40 hours a week bagging groceries? gerard: yes. acleaned me rooms with high-powered hose. unloaded 18-wheeler trucks. did everything you need to do it a grocery store for three years while also a member of the union. ryan: why do you think the gentleman that saw you and said, come talk, what you think he said that? gerard: because someone did the same thing for him. he grew up in philadelphia, he cited to go to college, worked his way through. decided to get an education and library science because he believed looks matters.

brian: have you done this to anyone else? gerard: absolutely. schools as a mentor. i do it for students who are good aei and for my daughter's students as well. it was sent for me and i will do for others. ryan: our guest has been gerard robinson. you for having me. it has been an honor. ♪ announcer: for free transcripts or to give us your comments, visit us at q&a.org. programs are also available as c-span podcasts.

♪ announcer: if you liked this program, here's some others. michelle easton, founder of the clare booth luce policy institute talks about the organization and its efforts to advance women in conservative leadership roles. dr. wayne frederick on problems facing historically black colleges. shares thene sackler story behind her program, the lottery. you can find those interviews and others at c-span.org. >> c-span washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that affect you. coming up, politico's top polling analysts talks about the

latest polling on hillary clinton and donald trump. he examines not only who will vote for them but how americans view the candidates. then, the sunlight room executive director or looks at how the recent ruling by the fbi on hillary clinton's private use of an e-mail server could impact the information available to the public. be sure to watch c-span washington journal beginning live in some :00 a.m. monday morning. join the discussion. g mobilefive connectivity be right around the corner? fcc chairman tom wheeler is pushing forward and says the u.s. must lead the world in looking for it. kathy abernethy talks about five g and what it means for the u.s. and she will also discuss why five g is needed for the internet of things, self-driving cars, and the expansion