tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. a conversation with tony danza. he is out with a new book about his experiences as a 10th grade english teacher. in 2009, he began a stint as a teacher at philadelphia's largest public high school. we're glad you have joined us. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminating hunger and we have

work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: pleased to welcome tony danza back to this program. he embarked on a unique journey when he decided to teach 10th grade english in philadelphia. that experience served as the basis for a series.

it also inspired a new book, "i'd like to apologize to every teacher i ever had." good to have you back on this program. what are you apologizing for? >> i apologize for not being a great student myself. why didn't i apply myself? when i got there and did this, and saw what it is like to be a teacher in a school of over 3000 kids with 50 languages spoken. northeast high school, and the vikings in the house? i saw the extent of what it takes to be there every day and tried to convince kids and who are constantly besieged th messages that tell them what

we're doing in the classroom is not that important, trying to convince them that this little bit of their lives is so important. it is not like it was when i was a kid. trying to convince them to take advantage of this little piece of their lives. it is going to inform the rest of their lives. tavis: what did you most underestimate? >> there are a million things. so much stuff. the thing that really strikes me, the emotional. early on, a teacher said to me, you have to be so many things to kids nowadays. not just a teacher. mother, father, a teacher,

social worker confidante. so much that have you back -- that you have to deal with. if you are a good teacher or you are trying to be a good teacher, you find the kids, they have been conditioned to think it is up to you. in the district in philadelphia, what are you going to do to engage the kids? kids know that. they say, i am here, in page me. -- engage me. what really happens is that now, you should the kit you care. he showed them you care what happens to them. they tell you stories that will crush you. a couple of stories, you go home and you have to sit and that is to try to come down from this emotional stuff.

a lot of times, as you hear stuff that you have to report. look at the strike in chicago. 87% of all the kids in chicago or on the free lunch and free breakfast programs. they come to school hungry. the kids can go and at least get the food. you are dealing with so many other things other than the curriculum. the teacher has to teach the curriculum, which is a lot. he'll have to worry about professional development, literacy initiatives, all of these mandates. they're trying to keep the not so good teachers in mind. it hamstrings the good teachers. if you are a teacher, you have to teach the curriculum, you have to teach morals, and values, and self control.

a lot of kids don't have it. you have to do all that in 45 minutes. it is insurmountable. tavis: you mentioned the teachers' strike in chicago. i have been amazed. the number of individuals and major newspapers. they gave the teachers the business. they had given the teachers in chicago a hard time. i am not suggesting they do not have particular issues. it seems to me that something -- i am not suggesting that teachers are perfect.

it seems to me that something has happened in our culture where teachers, teachers' unions have become the bad guys. it is so easy to not teachers. even when they go out on strike for what might be legitimate issues, major newspapers the laughter of them. >> can you a imagine how bad it must've been that knowing we are in this political climate, you are going to suffer an incredible public relations disaster, and you still have to do it? i did a fund-raiser at any in march because the budget cuts in philadelphia, there is a move to privatize public education. you will have the motivated students and the one with parents and people do care at one school and everybody else in the other school.

they laid off the school nurse. i saw my principal the other day and a pastor to take another million dollars out of the budget at of one -- and i asked her to take another million dollars out of the budget at one school. there is no nurse, no shop teacher, no art teacher. when they go to the mall, they see what is important. i did not quite understand how this happened. this is what the book is about. are there bad teachers? absolutely. what i saw was discouraged teachers. after three years, after five years, almost 50% quite. when i was in orientation, i was with 801st-year teachers. -- 800 first-year teachers.

three years later, 30% are ready to go. it has to be something in the system. if you give me a classroom, i had 26 kids. if you want to evaluate me, go ahead. if you give me two kids who do not want to learn and they will disrupt my class, i am in trouble. the test should be part of it. most good teachers do want to be evaluated. you have to find a way that it is fair. poverty is a big part of it. poverty cannot be an excuse for bad teachers, but teaching cannot be the only thing we do to combat poverty. tavis: you cannot address one

without the other. you cannot address education reform without addressing poverty. >> but we also have to make a decision. i was in a park the other day in new york. secondary school, seven their eighth grade. -- a seventh or eighth grade. there was not one white kid in the class. these are our kids. we may have our kids in public schools and we have to decide that as a national security issue, we cannot drop out of billion kids a year and sustain a great country. when i was there, do not get me wrong, i understand. i think that it is easy to blame the teachers. it is easy to blame the unions.

i am a union guy. if you charged the decline in wages, it goes right along with the decline in unionism. have there been abuses? absolutely. they have made some mistakes, but we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater. tavis: have you been hearing anything from the white house that makes you hopeful? >> i think the race to the top was the catalyst to getting some things done. the unions, even in chicago, the unions have gone along with this. they're trying to -- they realize this is happening. figuring out a new way to decide who gets tenure is not the answer. not the total answer, a part of it may be.

it is so easy to blame. tavis: let's talk about some of the students you had. >> i changed his name. he reminded me of myself. african-american kid, he's very smart. he looked like a man, by the way. smart as heck, lives in a tough neighborhood. he rode about a shooting at a basketball game -- he wrote about a shooting at a basketball game. does not understand that this piece of his life is so important. i understand that. when i was a kid, i did not get it.

one life, that is all you get. i was raised catholic. if it works out, fine. i would try to tell them. i worked hard with them. by the way, he did graduate. he is going not toing. he was one of those kids, i am here, what do what we do? monty was smarter than me. in the beginning of the year, as a first-year teacher, you are struggling with a curriculum. i was particularly struggling. ironic that i was teaching english. we were talking about the narrator, and he corrected me.

the kid was unbelievable. i am not sure you're qualified to teach this class. by the way, he was about this bag. -- this big. he told me, the most important thing in my life, the school and tennis. tavis: that is a different type of intimidation. kids night -- might not be on average smarter than the teacher, but they can sniff when the teacher is not up to snuff. >> they can tell when you do not care. it is kind of sad. if i had to come up with a solution i do not know how to implement it. we can not want an education

more for these kids more than one it for themselves. they're in a culture that undermines education. hard work and good behavior will pay off. and then they go watch "jersey shore." you have 70% out of wedlock births in the african a meat -- african-american community. you do not have the model now. it is a snowball. to me, it seems we have to come up with some sort of campaign a can to the campaign we used to change the attitudes about smoking. or drunk driving. we changed the attitudes of the

country. we have to do that with the kids, make them understand that they are not living in the world i grew up in. or you could quit school at 16 and did an assembly line jobs and have a middle-class life. it is not like that anymore. we have to tell them that this little bit of their lives is so important. without it, and in spite of the formidable and legitimate challenges that you have, the obstacles, you still have to find a way to make this happen. tavis: the book is about the fact that families are the answer to poverty. that is an argument the political right makes all the time. if you want to solve the education crisis, it starts with

family. there is some legitimacy to the argument. what do you make of that argument? those of us on the left have a response at the ready. >> when i got in trouble in school, i got in trouble at home. when kids get in trouble at school, the teacher gets in trouble. the families are important. nobody can argue that it would be best if everybody had a family, everybody had caring parents. when you go to a private school, what you did in a private school? you get smaller class size, better facilities. the only thing you really get is like minded parents. they have skin in the game. we do not have that in the public schools. in the meantime, we still have

to solve this. the only way to do it is to somehow convince the kids. that is going to take everybody. as an use "jersey shore" example. if i were 20, and you told me go down to the beach, act out, and we will pay you. i would be afraid to see the footage. ok? this is a wealthy woman. what do you think about the sense that you had dinner with last night that put that stuff on? -- suits that you had dinner with last night that put that stuff on? item 62. when i was a kid, there was a guy on tv who used to tell us at 7:30, it is time for all good children to go to sleep.

and we would go to sleep. if you watched a warner brothers cartoon, bugs bunny would make so many references to history and classical music, you could win "jeopardy." tavis: nakia. >> one of the great kids of all time. she was my go-to girl. wages to a fund-raiser in march. -- we just did a fund-raiser in march. teacher persisted and talent show and she was my emcee. -- teachers versus student talent show and she was my emc. she was smart, she is going to college, by the way. she was eye dynamic kid, a musician, she had a lot of

friends. and then she had a problem this last year. somebody told me -- she came out of bed and she is one of the most wonderful kids. -- she came out of its and she is one of the most wonderful kids. the right has a point. it would be a lot better if they all have families. my point is, they don't. tavis: tell me about this group called the wanderers. >> this is a giant school. 3500 kids. if you are smart enough, you can go through the metal detectors and if you could keep on the move and you know the place, you do not have to go to class all day. these guys did not go to class. they are white as white can be. they look like they have not seen the sign. i would run into them all the time. one kid, i got a family with.

he was a sad case. he ended up in jail and in trouble. i said listen, you can do this. he said, i am way behind. i will take you around to the teachers. the teacher said, you are out of your mind. but i wanted to try. we got all of this stuff together. for a while, i thought we might get it. one of the things they do not have is a model. they do not know what it looks like to study or to graduate or to go to work. they do not have a model. tavis: everybody is capable of being redeemed as long as there is hope. you never give up on another team and being. reading your book, and hearing you talk about it, there are some students and teachers feel

cannot saved or salvaged. when you encounter a student like that, and a teacher should never give up, but when you run into a kid who everybody has tried. he or she appears to be an salvageable, how do you process that? >> i think you try one more time. and then you deal with the fact that you have a lot of kids. somebody gave me -- one of the things that is happening, a lot of them are the backbone. the new blood is good, do not get me wrong. but experience is important. she gave me a plaque. anything you need for a lesson, she has got it. she gave me one more piece of kitsch.

i was thinking about this experience. i realized i had the box. there was a plaque. told the story of this giant storm, washes thousands of starfish on to the beach. the clouds break and the sun starts to bake the starfish. the guy comes along and had thousands of starfish. he starts picking them up one by one. another guy says, what are you doing? you are not making a difference. the guy picks up one more and says, it made a difference to that one. that is all you can do. i do not know if i got any in the water, but i got a few closer to the water. that is all you can do. you can drive yourself crazy about the one you lost, but you have to think about the 50 that

you got. and this time we are living in, it is tough to get them all. tavis: how do you think teachers sustain their hope against what is a mounting -- mountain of evidence that what they're doing is not making a dent? >> every once in awhile, a kid will do something and let you know that you are. she is going. we can handle it line -- we can handle it one of two ways. i made this lesson. i was sitting in my classroom months later. the kid walks in the door, i quoted you today.

i called my friend, make the best of a bad situation. tavis: there you have it. the new book, "i'd like to apologize to every teacher i ever had." >> a great book for people who would like to try this. tavis: "i'd like to apologize to every teacher i ever had." great book, a great photo, and some great endorsements. glad to have you. that is our show for tonight. until next time, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with richard gere on his latest film.

>> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminating hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs.

tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with richard gere