Newark Mayor on $100M Facebook Founder Donation

Nearly half the students in Newark, N.J. public schools don't graduate high school, and the troubled district has been under state control for 15 years.

Now that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is donating $100 million to those schools, Mayor Cory Booker and other city officials are faced with making the best use of the money.

Booker spoke with "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez about his city's sudden good fortune - and continuing challenges.

"The low acheivement of our young people is really the biggest national security threat in America," Booker said. " … No city has created a school system that really serves the genius of all (its) children. In Newark, we want to be the first."

To see the entire interview, click on the video below:

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pjbtexas says:: The current problem with American education is not the number of days the kids go, it is not the parents cooperation, it is the fact that the standards of education have dropped seriously to match the level of the kids. Each year that level drops some more because we let it. When I went to school the level was much higher and if a child did not pass, they flunked and had to retake the classes until they passed. Now we are lowering the standards to make sure they pass. As long as we do this, it will never get better. We also cannot let kids do things with computers until AFTER they prove they can do it WITHOUT one. I took 4 years of math, 4 years of foreign language, 4 years of science including Physics, 4 years of english all in high school. I had Calculus before I left High School. This is why kids can't even start college with what meger education they have. If they can't pass, don't blame the teacher, blame the kid!!!!!!; reply