Dr. Tuajuanda Jordan spoke at the Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE) Annual Conference on Oct. 6, 2016, at the Clarion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel in Ocean City, Md. Participants at the conference included State of Maryland school board members, superintendents, and other education leaders.
Dr. Jordan’s keynote address was titled, “Tomorrow Belongs to Those Who Prepare for It Today.” In the address, Dr. Jordan discussed what it means to be college- and career-ready and what it takes to prepare students to attend an institution of higher education. Other key points included the necessary skills and experiences students need to thrive in college and also the challenges faced by the undeserved and how to best address those challenges.
Said Dr. Jordan in the keynote address: “I realized that I was a role model, if not a mentor, and that for every single individual who came under my sphere of influence, I had to challenge the individual to do their absolute best, and I would not accept excuses for their not rising to the challenge. Thus, as an educator, I had to resist the urge to water down the curriculum or to lower my expectation for my students. Why? Because I believed that doing that for a student does them a disservice. The real world doesn’t give them any breaks, so what would I be doing to prepare them for long-term success in the real world if I did not bring that world to them in my classroom, in my office, and in my lab?”
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Read the keynote address “Tomorrow Belongs to Those Who Prepare for It Today” below: