NEW ORLEANS — Hundreds packed a huge hall at the Morial Convention Center on Saturday to hear from comedian, activist and educator Bill Cosby, a featured speaker at the Essence Music Festival’s annual gathering of leaders charged with finding solutions to problems facing urban America.

Cosby, who’s often criticized for his scolding tone when discussing ills facing the African American community, was warmly received, drawing applause and other positive reactions throughout his nearly 90-minute conversation.

Moderator Wendy Wilson, editor of Essence.com, noted that statistics show that every school day, some 7,000 children drop out.

“Are you sure it’s every day?,” Cosby asked, as audience members laughed. “Because if you go from September to July, at that rate, we’d have no one left to teach.”

Using his trademark story-telling humor, Cosby said curbing the nation’s dropout rate starts with educators who love what they do.

He asked the audience if they remember Mr. So-and-So or Ms. Whoever, who taught them biology or algebra and they didn’t want that teacher because “they gave too much work” but then “you were crying tears after graduating from that class, thanking that teacher for giving them so much work.”

“Our children need us,” he said. “We’ve got to get people into the system who want to teach. We need principals who want to train teachers. In the name of God, or anyone else you believe in, 420 students need more than one counselor. Our children deserve better.”

“Those who are teachers, don’t give up,” Cosby implored. “This is your civil rights issue now.”Cosby also touched on the tendency of some in the community to “play the blame game” instead of searching for a solution to whatever problem was at hand.

“If something bad is happening in the community, why do we just keep on talking about it?” he said. “We’ve got to get our people to believe in themselves again, to value themselves and stop waiting for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to fix it.”