Every few days I type the word "education" into google, the "news" bit, and see what comes up. Mostly it is American. Mostly it is politicians. Mostly, the news is bad. Education is terrible. More money must be spent on it. Candidate X will emphasise the importance of education more than his frankly very similar opponent Y. Blah blah blah.

When the news is not American, it is usually even more depressing. Education is vitally important, more money must be spent on it, but where will that come from? Woe woe woe. Etc.

I am always on the look-out for the different story. I look for the particular, and I look for good news. I look for individuals who are making a difference and doing so with their own efforts, rather than merely begging for money or lusting for office.

This, from earlier in the week, even though, like almost everything I seem to have written about this week - such is the Internet - is also American, is the kind of thing I mean:

Actor and comedian Bill Cosby is set to visit four Richmond public schools Monday and speak about the importance of education.

His stops will include: Thompson Model Middle School, George Wythe High School and Carver and George Mason elementary schools. The events will not be open to the public.

Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, whose mayoral campaign office helped plan Cosby's visit, said his longtime friend will likely talk about "the need to stay in school and the need to end this senseless slaughter."

"He feels a lot of people and a lot of kids have lost the fight within them to be something. And, consequently, they turn on each other," Wilder said of Cosby. "He said, 'Doug, I think they lost the fight.' He means they lost the spirit to achieve. I think he is right."

"A lot of these kids don't look past 25. They don't intend to live forever. They go out and have a baby . . . Get me a nice ride. Have some expensive jewelry. And that is it. They don't look toward middle age. They don't look toward a retirement. They don't look toward raising a family or providing an opportunity for other families."

The actor, who is known for his stand-up comedy and his sitcom role as Dr. Cliff Huxtable, generated controversy in May when he criticized some blacks for their grammar and accused others of not properly raising their children.

Unfortunately for Cosby, part of the reason this is news is because he is friends with a politician, Governor Wilder, who helped set up these talks, and Wilder is being accused of using Cosby for political purposes. But the way I see it, Cosby is using his political connections for Cosby purposes, and this is what matters. And what are mayors for if not to give a helping hand to operations like this?

Cosby is not begging for money, nor is he himself seeking to go into politics. He is simply trying to get a message across, to the people who he most wants to hear it, at the moment in their lives when it might make the most difference. Well done him.

I would like to see a lot of other celebrities follow Cosby's example. Not necessarily with anything so grand as a lecture tour, just by contributing to education. These people are nothing if not communicators, and teaching people to communicate is at the heart of teaching nowadays. Lots of these celebs and ex-celebs have more money than they know how to spend. So, instead of wasting the second half of their lives trying vainly to recreate the glories of the first part of their lives, why don't they grow old with a bit of dignity and become, I don't know, classroom assistants, and take it from there? Bob Geldof would have made a great Headmaster.

The teaching profession badly needs people with a knowledge of life outside school. Clearly the teaching profession can make excellent use of some teachers who know their subjects, how to teach their subjects, and very little else. But it also needs people who have lived a little, climbed mountains, fronted rock groups, driven jet airplanes, built skyscrapers, won Olympic bronze medals and organised hugely successful marketing campaigns.

Or for that matter hugely unsuccessful marketing campaigns, because failure teaches you a lot as well as success. You can bet that before that bronze medal finally happened, there were a lot of cock-ups and disappointments. Everest is not climbed in a day, and with no set-backs or back-trackings. And, the occasional teacher who knows what the inside of a prison is like might be able to pass on some good lessons.