An unlikely trio is taking to the streets to promote the importance of education during a national listening tour. The Reverend Al Sharpton, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and Republican ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich are teaming up to show that America’s educational issues are more important than party lines and political mist. Education is as important as the air we breathe, and these three influential men are speaking all over the country, emptying their lungs with the message of progress and reform.

Even though Mr. Duncan is a hard-nosed democrat, the reverend is a liberal minded activist, and the former speaker is a conservative law-maker, the germ of America’s education problem is not one that can cured by rhetoric. It requires open and honest conversation with real people who are or will have to deal with these problems with themselves and their children. The Obama administration has a $4.3 billion plan to restructure thousands of public schools around the country. The president means business, and these three educational musketeers are making sure that this message is heard loud and clear.

The three have also pledged not to get into the politics of the day outside of education. Healthcare, the war in Afghanistan, etc will not be discussed. This is not an opportunity to sell the country on war strategy, but rather an occasion to show solidarity with the ailing school systems that need reform with books, teachers, and safety. Students are getting into more and more fights around the country (recently in Chicago) that are turning deadly. All this passion and energy needs to be put in the direction of studying, not fighting, and teachers and community organizations need to make sure that this is explained and followed by students. It is a key to these students getting better grades and going to college.

Mastery Charter High School located in West Philadelphia shows that this is the case. This school has a strict nonviolence code and schooled children on how to channel their anger in order to make it work to your advantage scholastically. As the Wall Street Journal reports, “Before it was taken over three years ago by new management and a new squad of teachers, Mastery was one of the district’s most violent underperfomers. It is now a real standout.”

This is the result these three hopes will persist this year and onward. As Sharpton states, we are “a real team on education reform.” There is enough funding and enough energy, now the time is to work hard and engage. The best teachers must be hired for the best students to learn from. It starts on every stop of this tour, and hopefully it will make President Obama’s goal of bringing America back on top of the education mountain a reality.