Imagine with me for a minute that you are a grandfather or grandmother going to your local school to pick up your grandchild at the end of the day and in the lobby of that school, you run into Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. picking up his great-grandchild at the same time. What do you say to Dr. King about what has happened since he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964?

I can see myself so excited that I go right over to him – I introduce myself and say, “Hello Dr. King, my name is Stu Silberman, and I serve as the superintendent of schools here in Fayette County.” He immediately says, “Stu, how are you and how are we doing educating all kids in 2008?”

I begin by saying, “Dr. King, I read an article you wrote in the Morehouse campus newspaper, the Maroon Tiger in Atlanta, Ga., in January 1947, more than 60 years ago. In that article, you defined the purpose of education, so my answers to your question will be based on that.

You said at that time that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the one is utility, and the other is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life.

You said education must train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking, and education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.

You surmised that the true function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.

Dr. King, here we are 60 years since you wrote that article. In many ways, education has come a million miles since then, and in others, we are just beginning. The reform that has taken place in Kentucky reflects much of your thinking at that time. We are now teaching critical thinking skills rather than just rote memory. Please understand, rote memory still is vital; it is now just a first step to higher order thinking. You cannot do critical thinking in math until you learn your multiplication tables. Students now learn at higher levels where they can apply and synthesize the knowledge they acquire.

I believe that we are now doing a much better job of teaching students how to think. So, 60 years ago, you spoke of what was needed in education, and here we are 60 years later, implementing many of those same ideas. Dr. King, you definitely were a man ahead of your time!

Dr. King, locally we are making some progress. We are moving more and more kids to proficiency each year. Our community has rallied behind us to help us. We are sending our kids to the top colleges and universities in our country. From UK to Transylvania to the University of Louisville to Harvard to MIT, we have kids of all races who are now attending these institutions. Dr. King, last year we recognized 375 kids for distinguished work, and we were proud of that. This year we recognized 1,800 kids for that same achievement level. Last year we recognized three schools for reaching proficiency, and this year we recognized 13, so we are making progress.

On a Saturday morning this past spring, you could not get a parking spot at Tates Creek High School because the place was filled with families of all races and ethnic groups watching their kids participate in an academic challenge. You would have thought it was a big basketball game.” … Dr. King smiles.

“But Dr. King, at the same time, although we are providing these opportunities for our kids, we still have serious problems. We have too many kids dropping out of school. We still have gaps in learning between different sub-groups. We have too many kids not going to college, and too many of our kids of color going to jail.

I believe that our administrators and teachers believe that all of our kids can achieve at high levels no matter their color or socioeconomic status, but we are losing many battles. Our kids are choosing the streets over the classrooms as they see a quick way to get the better things in life – they do not see that they will end up in jail in the long run. As educators, we have to figure out ways to get our kids better connected to our schools so they will stay with us. We have to be one country working together to win this battle and keep our kids in school, but I am afraid we are losing.”

Dr. King says, “Yes, Stu, it looks to me that significant progress has been made, but in order to win those battles you talk about, you have to rekindle the vision to move to the next levels.” I say, “Dr. King, how do we rekindle that vision?” Being a man of the cloth, he shares this story with me:

The wives of two civil rights leaders were mending their husbands’ clothes. The first wife said, my husband is so discouraged; he just can’t seem to make any progress. He continues to complain that we are no further ahead today than we were 30 years ago and at times, we are even moving backwards. The other wife responded, well, I am sorry to hear that, my husband has been experiencing just the opposite ... he comes home every night and shares the successes and progress made every day. He is excited that the dream is becoming a reality.

The ladies went back to mending the clothing for their husbands – the first, the wife of the discouraged man, mending the seat of his pants and the elbows of his shirts. The other – the wife of the man who was seeing progress, was mending the knees of her husband’s trousers and the soles of his shoes.

I say, “Dr. King, what a great lesson for all of us. I must tell our people that we have two choices: We can sit in our chairs with our faces in our hands on our elbows and wonder why we are not where we want to be, or we get on our knees and pray for guidance and then get up and follow that guidance to help our world make progress every day. That choice will measure the impact we are making on society today.

I also will share with them that you said to keep the dream alive, revitalize the vision, and together we can all make this world a better place for the children who follow us.”

At that time, my granddaughter and his great-granddaughter come skipping down the hall together, holding hands. Our eyes meet one last time, we smile, and we both know that although we have made good progress, we still have a long way to go.