The American education system is failing, and students have a responsibility to fix the marred approach, CNN Education Contributor Dr. Steve Perry said Tuesday night.

Perry, the principal and founder of Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Conn., said college students can influence younger generations, but they have to move quickly.

“Hope is empty without action,” Perry said, elevating his voice match the passion he expressed toward education reform.

The keynote speaker for GW’s Black History Month said only solidarity among the student body could breed an educational movement, but that would be difficult at GW because the University’s students are “cold.”

“We must come together, too much is on the line for this mess,” Perry said. “We can’t have a movement if everyone is going in a different direction.”

Perry, an outspoken proponent of shuttering failing schools, told stories of mothers who illegally send their children to schools across state boarders to avoid bad institutions.

Some schools can’t be reformed he said, adding, that “they have to be closed down.”

He defended his stance on eliminating bad schools by comparing a failing institution to weeds.

“Grass may grow out of the cracks of a sidewalk but you can never call it a field,” he said.

Perry recognized that improving education is a huge undertaking, but he said he believes this generation is the key.

“I need your help. I need your talent. I need your will,” he said.