I agree with your point.

Hats off to the fine folks at ideastream (Dan Moulthrop, Paul Cox, et al) who put together an excellent program this morning.

The guests underscored that in fact reforming public education is not as intractable a problem as we make it out to be. Innovation and entrepreneurship are taking hold.

Even in the difficult political environment of Washington DC, dramatic reforms and entrepreneurial initiatives are taking place and being rewarded.

It’s time to ask, however, where is the Cleveland business community?

On the most critical economic development issue we face — transforming public education through innovation and entrepreneurship — the Greater Cleveland Partnership is busy pursuing a failed strategy of investing $400 million in a convention center. That’s a remarkably silly investment for a financially strained city (and a county) that ranks so low in income and educational attainment.

Instead, they should be looking at practical reform models that are taking place in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, and New Orleans. Until the Cleveland business leadership gets engaged in meaningful education reform in this town, the long term prospects for Cleveland are bleak.

No city cannot build a high income economy with a public school system in which over 60% of 9th graders drop out. The numbers just don’t work.

People learn in at least 8 different and distinct ways. Until the education system creates opportunities for each of these to be expressed in environments that entice and reward learning, we will get more of the same.