The man who addressed more than 2,000 teachers and administrators Wednesday has extraordinary credentials.

Dr. Ben Carson is the pediatric neurosurgery director at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. He is internationally-known for his work in separating conjoined twins. The author of three books, Carson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the nation’s highest civilian award - from President Bush earlier this year.

In an education summit sponsored by community businesses and organizations and coordinated through Public Education Partners (PEP), Carson spoke to educators from the Aiken School District, USC Aiken and Aiken Technical College.

In a real way, Carson credits his success to the poverty he experienced as a child, because it “put a fire in my belly” to move beyond it. His mother, one of 24 children, married at 13. She later divorced her husband, a bigamist. There was never any money for anything. When Sonya Carson took Carson and his brother into grocery stores in Detroit, the boys would ask to get a penny candy. But they saw such pain in their mom’s eyes that they stopped asking.

Teachers helped Carson in very real important ways when he was growing up. But his young, remarkable mother made the difference for him. Sonya Carson worked a number of domestic jobs to keep from going on welfare. In those homes, she noticed that education was valued, that the families spent time reading.

Carson’s mother proceeded to turn the television off and made her sons check out library books. They had to give her written reports, not realizing that their mom, with a third-grade education, couldn’t read.

“After a number of weeks, I started to enjoy reading,” Carson said. “We lived in a horrible environment, but I could go anyplace with books. I learned how Booker T. Washington was born a slave. It was illegal for him to read, but he taught himself and ended up as an advisor to presidents. Through reading, I could have complete control of my life.”

By then, no book was safe from Carson’s hands. He had thought he was dumb and his classmates thought so too. One day his fifth-grade science teacher asked the class to identify an obsidian rock. Carson not only did so, he began to describe its characteristics in detail. The teacher was delighted and said so, and Carson realized he was no dummy. He had gotten the answers from a book.

In his inner city junior high school where most kids weren’t interested in school, teachers were thrilled when Carson sought them out. He excelled in band and got a scholarship to the prestigious Interlochen summer arts camp; his music teacher urged not to go, fearful his prize student would forego his academic efforts. He joined the ROTC in high school and the instructor made it possible for Carson to attain the rank of colonel in record time and receive an appointment to West Point.

Carson turned down the appointment and enrolled at Yale University. Still another teacher helped him land a summer job at Ford Motor Company to have some spending money for college.

“Teachers are dream managers,” Carson said. “They can tell you why you can do something, not why you can’t.”

He frets that China is producing 392,000 engineers a year and the U.S. is providing just 60,000 annually, of which 40 percent are foreigners. America has to change this equation, has to build up the intellectual firepower needed to succeed. In the 21st century, Carson said, it’s hard for teachers to keep up with keep up with ever-changing information and technology so they can inspire their children to go into a variety of career paths.

“We have to start thinking of teachers as educational quarterbacks,” said Carson, “who can draw from other sectors and develop contacts to the guy who invented the catalytic converter and to provide the kind of tools that will get kids excited.”

But educating the next generation in a technological society is not a turf war, he said. It’s a job for business, industry, higher education. Everybody has to be involved with it.”

Following Carson’s speech, a short PEP video aired. Each time a scene from a county school hit the screen, teachers from that school cheered — much like a pep rally, as Aiken Superintendent Dr. Beth Everitt said.

“Isn’t it great to be here with everybody,” she said. “We’ve received an inspiring message of hope and determination. To our teachers, principals and staffs, this was all for you and shows how much (the business community) appreciates your hard work and what you do for children.”

Redcliffe Elementary School teacher Denise Broome called Carson’s speech “a great way to start the year, It was inspiring and showed me why I became a teacher,” she said. “I had stayed home with my children and volunteered in the schools, where I saw the impact the teachers were making on my children. I wanted the opportunity to make that kind of impact.”

Source: Aiken Standard, SC
http://www.aikenstandard.com/0814-ben-carson