During a recent office visit, the doctor pulled out her Blackberry. She wasn’t taking a call. She was consulting a database regarding a minor medical condition that hounds me.

I found it reassuring and honest. Information doubles – what, every other heartbeat? No one can keep the encyclopedia of their profession in their head.

So, teaching urban high school students in the 21st Century: do they need to know it, or do they need to know how to use it? Do they need to memorize the phases of the French Revolution, or is it okay to punch “French Revolution” into a browser and access more info on the topic than any teacher could want? And what does the French Revolution have to do with our world today?

Classroom teaching is skewed toward “know it,” and maybe it should be. But let’s recognize that culture and the workplace are skewed toward “know how to use it,” and today’s students are often caught in-between.

The NY WEBCenter (NYWC) stands on the “know how to use it” end of the spectrum. We present students the fast-as-light communication tools that are revolutionizing our world. They may look like studio mics, video cameras, sound boards, laptops and high-end graphics software applications, but they actually are the way information and knowledge will be transferred, nearly exclusively, as the next generation takes over. The New York Times says soon it will be a digital publication, not print, and its reporters will have to shuttle between keyboards and video-journalism.

NYWC’s work has the most impact when it combines “know how to use it” with “know it.” For African American History Month we’ve challenged students to come up with poetry and rap songs that put their sentiments into words. For some, it is the first time they’ve grappled with the legacy of leaders who are just names in a history book and attempt to connect them in some way to their own experience.

A recent report said more IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) were issued in China last year than in the US and Great Britain combined. It’s a signal that intellectual and financial capital are flowing there, and one more indicator that the hand of the West may be slipping from the reins of world supremacy.

Scary, no matter your politics or race, for it means change.

What’s your contribution, if you’re an educator who can’t get students to stick the apostrophe in the right place in this sentence? (“What’s your contribution if you’re an educator who can’t . . . .”)

At New York WEB Center, our solution is to give them a job! We put the students to work as journalists, videographers, studio engineers, recording artists, producers and anything else we can think of.

In a changing world, ideas are still powerful and meaningful. There’s not a robot yet that can think as creatively as the most recalcitrant student in one of our classes.

Not every student has a vocation for college, though that is the tilt of our public school system. (Start a list of current world heavies who did not graduate college – begin with Bill Gates, Microsoft and Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook.) We need entrepreneurs, people who can make things happen, develop vocations, turn an initiative into a product.

They get that at the WEB Center. They also get plenty of elbowing and encouragement about academics. Yet, our faith in ideas and innovation is how we compete, and it has to be reinforced with practice.

We want to encourage a student to explore his creativity to come up with a better mousetrap – or maybe even the next Facebook.

We’re taking the challenge seriously. We’re not waiting on money from somewhere, we’re organizing. We’re developing a Central Brooklyn Task Force of legislators, educators, community leaders, parents and students. We’re focusing muscle on the 15% lowest performing students at schools linked to legislative districts and powerhouse religious congregations. We’re leveraging volunteers, mentors and tutors, and moving Web 2.0 technologies into the educational environment.

Let’s save some lives. Money and grace will follow.

That’s what it takes to Educate to Graduate.

William Grant
President & CEO
PRIDE-NYC/New York Web Center

Students who come through our program graduate at better than 90% (6 year graduation rate), much better than the city overall, but we’re just a slice in the spectrum. It will take many people and organizations doing what we do to change the situation.

And what do we do? Sure, we educate to graduate. But that’s not just a matter of school work. It’s life work. These days, you have to do a 360 for students at risk.

Last week as we readied 100 students to start the new year, one tall young man acted out. He grabbed the microphone and shouted something into it. I told him he was being disrespectful and could do better. Later in the day, I noticed him taking a leadership role and gave him some quiet, positive feedback. People would follow him, I said, in the classroom, athletics, in the community. It was a God-given gift, and a responsibility. He seemed to understand.

My manager came up to me. “I’m so glad you spoke to him,” she said. “That’s the student whose mother died. I went to the funeral. He disappeared until today!”

Students these days, you never know what they’re going through. You can’t let your expectations for them flag, but you’ve also got to be sensitive to their 360.

That’s what it takes to Educate to Graduate.

William Grant
President & CEO
PRIDE-NYC/New York Web Center

What’s the market? NYS high school students must pass Math and Science Regents Exams to graduate, but passing rates are often in the cellar. NYWC’s “Death at the Apollo” (working title) computer game – designed by students for students – puts the player as a forensics investigator in the middle of a crime scene. Solving the crime requires the same problem solving in math and science needed to pass the exam. It is a self-teaching tool that complements classroom work and study. In our concept, the finished product will sport the kind of interactive design features that attract students to commercial gaming.

Look for the demo on our website soon!

Highly-Motivated: The No Dope Project is in production right now: a docudrama by PRIDETV about Jayden, a high school rapper who gets high to stay chilled. But he’ll be chillin in the joint if he doesn’t stop crushin and rollin – and sellin’. Will he get himself together for the music contest, or will he . . .

MORE on PRIDETV | See Our Work

Lights, Camera, AXn!

It’s Xtreme: burning it all on DVD. That’s music, choreography, directing, reporting, what’s the 411. But freestyling isn’t enough, you’ve got to learn:

• Managing time to crunch a deadline
• Writing a script so your scene is tight
• Building a team as fly as the Bulls or Lakers

You get the Xs and Os in the classroom, then bring it onto the field with PRIDETV. But check it out: nothing stays in Vegas anymore. It’s on the ‘Net, on your phone, ‘round the world in a heartbeat. So, you do the 411 to know what you’re talking about. You practice practice practice to look and sound hot as you can. And like Queen Latifa, you learn both sides of the camera. That way, it’s not an accident. You’re a career.

Last production: “Why I Can’t Bring My Phone?” – a humorous investigation of the cell phone ban in city schools.

Current production: News Desk. On the beat with our ace reporters.

See more PRIDE-TV Video

We’re takin’ hip hop to the skoolz with a positive message. Gangsta ain’t the only rap. Matter of fact, many of us feel gangsta’s over. We’ve got another flavor, and it’s still as prime, still as real. Want longevity? Connect to positivity.

Our first campaign: we’re not ridin’ the N, B, or F trains. That’s right, we’re rapping and speaking without those words, in school and in the community. You want to spit at home, you say what you want. But outside the house, you got to represent. Show some respect for yourself and your people. That sister’s no female dog. That brother’s no slave master’s son. We got pride.

But check this out. We got a new campaign. You got to respect your mind. Which means no firing up before coming to class. You know that’s no way to be. Blunts blunt you. Yeah, the herb’s supposed to be organic, planted by God or whatever, but let’s get real: it’s C4 for the mind.

Our deal: 6a to 6p school days, no weed, no drugs, no alcohol. No mess.