Can Money Make a Man?-The Effects of Well Funded Education

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Well Funded Education by Harris RosenThe poor black neighborhood of Tangelo Park, Florida has been significantly turned around by one man’s vision and his millions.

Harris Rosen, the wealthy business owner of Rosen Hotels and Resorts, decided 21 years ago to invest both financially and with his time in a failing neighborhood to see if a significant investment in education would change the future of residents.

Decades later, Tangelo Park is a thriving community which has gone from being crime and drug ridden to over 450 students receiving full college scholarships from Mr. Rosen personally.

When Rosen began his education campaign in this neighborhood of 3000, almost half of the students were drop outs. Two decades and his $11 million dollar investment later, nearly all high school graduates continue on to higher education.

The program starts with active day care programs and quality kindergartens and continues with proper parenting classes and computer training. The big carrot dangling on the stick is the knowledge that if a student so desires, they will succeed in getting an education and will go on to become a college graduate fully funded by Mr. Rosen.

Hope breeds success. Before Mr. Rosen’s program, these students saw no quality in their future and therefore did not strive to succeed. With the implant of hope, not only are students striving to learn but the neighborhood as a whole has also become well kept and safe.

The question becomes, is this one man’s triumphant story or can an infusion of money and well funded education truly turn around the lives of people? Mr. Rosen believes that there are many wealthy people who could do the same as he did. In fact, he is starting a similar program in Parramore, a neighborhood in downtown Orlando, with hopes that duplication is possible.

Forty years ago, Eric Hanushek, an economist at the Hoover Institution, showed that there was little correlation between how much schools’ spent and how well their students performed on tests. However, for reasons not entirely clear, today’s studies indicate that more money to schools means smaller class sizes, better teachers with higher salaries and a longer school year leading to better educated and more motivated students.

The ones who benefited most from the infusion of money in the right places were poorer students. A study found that a “10 percent increase in the money available for each low-income student resulted in a 9.5 percent increase in students’ earnings as adults. A public investment in schools returned 8.9 percent annually for a typical pupil who started kindergarten in 1980.”

Do you think others will follow in Harris Rosen’s footsteps? Can enough money given to the right areas change the future of endless young people? We’d like to hear from you.

6 Responses to Can Money Make a Man?-The Effects of Well Funded Education

  1. Rosalie says:

    This is so awesome the works he’s done. I think if more millionaires did this we would have a happier nation.

  2. Kathleen says:

    This is good news. Money makes a difference, but exactly where the money is spent is crucial. Note Mr. Rosen invested his money in making a difference early in a child’s life- quality daycare, kindergarten, and classes to help parents parent better. And he helped parents, too, through parenting classes and computer training. Another huge factor was giving poor children what children from upper income and most middle income families have– assurance that they would be able to go to college when they did well.
    As this article and various studies have pointed out, it is not just a matter of investing in education, but investing in certain aspects of eduction– smaller class sizes (especially among younger students), worthwhile salaries for teachers, and more time spent in school make sense for all kids and make for a good return on investment dollars. We should all take note– millionaires with their own purse strings and their controlling interest in government through campaign donations, and all the rest of us with our votes!

  3. M Kunz says:

    So Good to see focused money, focused planning and long term vision can bring about big changes.
    Note – no government intervention needed. It seems the needs of the community determined the decisions made.
    In taking an even longer term vision…what job opportunities will these students along with the highest number of college graduates in our history going to experience? One reads about the importance of entering the middle class. But the actual middle class in the U.S. is shrinking. Students from poverty, lower and upper middle class are finding it harder to earn the “middle class” life-style salaries.
    At least the students in this neighborhood will receive the added gift of no student debt which is a major blessing.
    Are there “millionaires” somewhere using their money, focused planning and business models to produce strong employment for the thousands of qualified graduates trying to find a job other than retail sales? I hope so.

    • Tsivya Fox says:

      Thanks for sharing. The news notes people like Bill Gates trying to do good for the world with their money. I am sure that there are many more doing good. Let’s hope that it builds a future, not only for our children but also for our future.

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