An Education President
The people have spoken and Barack Obama is now our president-elect. As a result of an unprecedented voter turnout for an inspiring leader, the U.S. will soon have at its helm a textbook case of what we espouse in this country. All of us have grown up being told that if we study hard and work hard we can be anything that we want to be. Certainly, that has been true for some of us. But now, we will be led by someone who achieved the highest office in our country “despite” his disadvantages. And he did it through hard work and a stellar education.
We will now have a president who understands the personal transformation that education brings. Someone who passionately believes in the importance of early childhood education beginning as early as possible in a child’s life, and the importance of sustaining that throughout the K-12 years. Someone who can be a living role model for every child in this country - no matter their race or economic situation.
President-elect Obama has elecrified the electorate and it remains to be seen if he can transfer his skill at campaign rhetoric into governance. K-12 education is in desperate need of reform. We need leadership to transform our schools and our country. An adept and skillful leader will not only set the tone of the future but will be able to bring all Americans onboard to repair the torn fabric of our major institutions by working together in a way we’ve not seen in decades.
Will it be easy? Of course not. It will take tremendous will and outstanding leadership. Are we up to the challenge? Of course we are. We’re Americans.
Yes we can.
Posted in: K-12 Education |
November 5th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Thanks, Annie! The overarching lesson of the Obama campaign is the vision, that collectively when we act on our best hopes, and seek ways to participate, we find that even the most difficult situations become workable. It helps also to move beyond ideology in a spirit of collaboration. These same principles can carry forward in to governance, and those of us living out our lives in the world of education have much we can share and apply to “being the change we want to see” at our local, state and national levels. As a start, we can begin talking with each other, and our neighbors, about the way we see education needs to change, to increase awareness and replace habitual stereotypical thoughts with examples from our own experience of what learning is like and can achieve in the digital age.
November 5th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Indeed, yes we can; we are up for the challenge. A 21st century leader for the 21st century!
November 5th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Thanks,Ferdi. You said it so eloquently, but it’s really about bringing out the best of us as a community rather than polarizing us, isn’t it?
Charlene, you remind me that it truly is a generational shift - a passing of the baton. Not that we Boomers need to go anywhere - there is plenty of work to go around, but we need new vision and new ideas for the 21st century.
November 5th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
i believe he will be able to bring most of America together to rebuild our nation and society.
November 7th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Terian, I share your belief and look forward to the end of fear mongering as a national strategy.
November 10th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Si se puede, indeed! The triumph of hope over fear, the value of education over the arrogance of presumption, and the belief that democratic government can play a beneficial role in the lives of its citizens were all borne out during this election. To borrow from a previous president, this truly is “morning in America!”
November 11th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Welcome, Tim, and thanks for weighing in. The election is a week ago today and it seems that for so many people, there is the sense that we are closing a dark chapter and moving into the sun.
For those of us in K-12 publishing, the focus is improving schools so that our students will have the skills necessary to maneuver in an ever more complicated and inter-dependent world.