Mark your calendar for a national live TV event to take our schools back to the drawing board
All four major TV networks will simultaneously broadcast the same live event next week, a special called XQ Super School Live that aims to rethink high school in America.
Tune in Sept. 8 at 5 p.m. Pacific on NBC, ABC, CBS or Fox (but preferably not Fox, since they're ultimately more tied to this Fox News nonsense than the other networks) for XQ Super School's live event.
Some super famous people — like Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson, Common and Jennifer Hudson — will join students, parents and educations to rethink America's high schools. Viola Davis and Julius Tennon are executive producers.
XQ Super Schools is an organization run by Russlynn Ali, former assistant secretary of civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education, working to transform schools into Super Schools, equipping students and teachers for what's yet to come in a way that's never been done.
"For the past 100 years, America's high schools have remained virtually unchanged" reads the XQ Super Schools website. "Yet the world around us has transformed dramatically. It's time to turn the American spirit of ingenuity towards our high schools and come together as a nation to give our students the education they deserve."
I have no idea how this will go, but there will be music and comedy sketches, and in general I love the spirit of it. It's almost hard to believe that all four major TV networks are together pausing to acknowledge that we need to completely redesign our system of education. I also appreciate that the cast of celebrities are majority people of color. These kinds of conversations will help to normalize the reality that our schools need drastic changes.