Geoffrey Canada
Geoffrey Canada
Geoffrey Canadais an American educator, social activist and author. Since 1990, Canada has been president of the Harlem Children's Zone in Harlem, New York, an organization that states its goal is to increase high school and college graduation rates among students in Harlem. Canada serves as the chairman of Children's Defense Fund's board of directors. He was a member of the board of directors of The After-School Corporation, a nonprofit organization that aims to expand educational opportunities for all students...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth13 January 1952
CityBronx, NY
CountryUnited States of America
One of the saddest days of my life was when my mother told me Superman did not exist. I was a comic book reader. I read comic books and I just loved them because even in the depths of the ghetto, you just thought, 'he’s coming. I just don’t know when because he always shows up and saves all the good people.’ I was maybe in the fourth grade, fifth grade; I was like ‘Mom you think Superman’s coming?’ and she said ‘Superman is not real.’ She thought I was crying because it’s like Santa Claus is not real. I was crying because there was no one coming with enough power to save us.
It's easy to have faith when everything is going great. The real test of faith is when you're facing something that only your faith in God will get you through.
When the safety of America is threatened, we will spend any amount of money. The real safety of our nation is preparing this next generation so that they can take our place [in] thinking and technology and democracy.
You go through the Civil Rights struggle, everybody knew the songs - 'We shall overcome.' Everybody would sing it. Music helped us. James Brown, 'Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud.' They helped black people figure out how to navigate what was a very treacherous place in America for them.
There's not a day that goes by that I don't draw on my undergraduate background in psychology.
We've gotta guarantee all of our kids an education.
My contract with my teachers is fair, and is two pages. The union contract is 200 pages. You cannot manage your business when you cannot make any decision without going back to 200 pages worth of stuff.
Lots of boys pick strong messages about who they are and who they want to be from the media.
It's just becoming more acceptable for girls to react violently.
My own faith was nurtured by my grandmother and her clinging deeply to her faith when she was dying a painful and slow death from cancer.
I want my kids to graduate from high school. But that's not enough. I also want them to go to college. Why? Because rich people's kids go to college. And if that's good enough for them, it's good enough for my kids. Because you know what? College graduates don't tend to go to jail as frequently as nongraduates.
If you are a lousy teacher, you should be fired.
People talk about Wall Street greed, but one of the things many people don't understand is that there are a lot of organizations that have been the recipient of largess from the same Wall Street.
The system decides you can't run schools in the summer.