NML’s Schlifske calls for schools to unite around quality education
He cites identifying early opportunities for kids
Education of children remains “a huge problem” in Milwaukee, and schools of all types need to unite to give students better opportunities to learn, the top executive of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. said Wednesday.
In a question-and-answer session following his keynote speech to leaders of some of Wisconsin’s largest privately held companies at the annual Deloitte Wisconsin 75 breakfast in Milwaukee, John Schlifske said while there’s been progress in recent years, much more needs to be done.
“We’ve got a huge problem with the city of Milwaukee as it relates to educational attainment,” said Schlifske, who has been an advocate for quality education as chairman, president and CEO of the Milwaukee-based company. “The scores are weak. They’re improving, but they’re not improving at a rate that I think we should find acceptable.”
Schlifske noted community leaders and educators have found some “breakthrough things” that are helping.
As an example, he cited “the value of identifying early education opportunities so that before kids go to school they’re in a quality daycare instead of
something that’s just like a baby-sitting thing.”
He said there also are new efforts to bring children up to proficient reading levels by third grade.
“We are making some progress in terms of helping high school kids understand the tools that are available for them so that they can go on beyond high school either to college or trade school,” Schlifske said. “But I have to tell you, we’re far from declaring victory. I think we need to increase the focus on quality schools.”
Schlifske said the issue of quality education “is not about public, private, charter, parochial.”
“It cuts across all of this and we just need to find a way to turn the focus on quality schools and get more people thinking about sending their kids there,” he said.
Schlifske said Wisconsin has “one of the most diverse school ecosystems in the country” because of all its choice, charter, private, parochial and public schools.
“Increasingly those five areas are
“We are making some progress in terms of helping high school kids understand the tools that are available for them so that they can go on beyond high school either to college or trade school. But I have to tell you, we’re far from declaring victory. I think we need to increase the focus on quality schools.”
John Schlifske
coming together. They compete with each other in the marketplace, but they’re coming together around the best practices, and that’s encouraging,” he said.
Schlifske continued: “I’m in the life insurance business. Every day we’re in the street competing against Mass Mutual, New York Life, Guardian — all our peers — to sell products. But when we go to Washington, we all hold hands and get together because we have to be united as an industry around what’s good for us.”
“We need to do that in Wisconsin and Milwaukee, too, over education, and stop fighting about public or choice or private and just get to what actually matters in terms of education.”