“Celebrating Progress, Seeking Solutions”

Hattiesburg, Miss. - Education is of the most importance in the state of Mississippi as well as across the nation.

In honor of Black History Month, former superintendent of Jackson Public Schools, Dr. Robert Fotrtenberry spoke about “Celebrating Progress, Seeking Solutions” at William Carey University.

Fortenberry said “the speech today was that while we live in the greatest nation on earth, and we have made progress in recognizing all of our people, especially the contribution to Blacks. There’s somethings yet to be done. I mentioned the fact that there’s other issues than race, that we need to come together.”

Fortenberry said that there are problems in the education, healthcare, and the justice system and that these industries need to progress and find more ways to reach out to each and every demographic in the country.

Fortenberry said “I think that the Petal Schools in this area has done a great job. But there’s work yet to be done and it’s time for all of us to come together as groups, look at these problems and get on with educating our kids better.”

But what are some of the areas that schools need to improve on?

Fortenberry said “look for the needs of the kids, we must teach them basic skills, we must teach them how to think, we must teach them how to write, we must teach them how to compute. But one of the other things that we have to teach them is to teach them how to get along together. Give them the opportunity to see people different from them, so that they can understand that world too. Because we just can’t separate our children and see these needs over here and no needs over here.”

Dr. Fortenberry said that people’s beliefs are contributing to a lack of quality education amongst different demographics throughout the country. But if educators become more unified then there will be a more efficient educational system.