O'Connor Pledges Personally to Restore Civics

Sandra Day O’Connor wants your help. The mission is no small one.

“To survive as a nation, it is vital that our schools teach – and our children understand – our system of government.”

In a stirring call to action that reflected AASA’s own mission of standing up for public education and preparing students to be citizens in a democracy, the former Supreme Court justice described how she came to be at the podium that night, where she received AASA’s American Education Award before commencing her 20-minute speech.

Kotter on Change, Courtesy of Letterman and Roto-Rooter

John Kotter, his voice quivering with emotion, told a thousand-plus school leaders he is where he is in life because of two high school teachers, a principal and a superintendent who took an interest in him, saying they provided his “ticket out.” “I’ve never had a chance to thank them in my adult life,” he added before quickly leaving the stage. “This is the best I can do. On behalf of them, I thank you.”

That’s how Kotter, one of the world’s foremost authorities on change and leadership, concluded his hour-long presentation that was largely free of direct references to K-12 education. But Kotter had the school system leaders alternately chuckling and seriously integrating his ideas on transforming an organization.

He sprinkled his presentation with short video clips from the David Letterman show and the MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour that featured an exchange between two corporate leaders with extremely contrasting management styles. The Letterman piece showed the comedian’s unsuccessful efforts to greet his new corporate bosses at General Electric shortly after their takeover of NBC. A third clip featured a Roto-Rooter plumber’s imaginative applications inside his service truck, the result of a management philosophy that allowed such individual initiative.

A retired professor at the Harvard Business School, Kotter originally published Leading Change in 1996, a book widely regarded as the “change bible” by leaders and managers in various sectors, public and private. More than a decade later, this seminal work and Kotter’s ideas remain relevant to leaders faced with the strenuous demands of organizational change.

Pink's Right-Brain World Captures Superintendents' Fancy

Best-selling author Daniel Pink made a compelling argument for developing students’ empathy, creativity and intuition in his 3rd General Session speech that attendees found riveting.
Photo by David Aleman

Daniel Pink captivated the audience with a lively presentation on why educators ought to promote right-brain thinking in schools today, suggesting the future of the American economy banked on the success of that effort.

The essential need to promote critical thinking and exposure to the arts and music in elementary and secondary schools, the former political speechwriter had superintendents quietly cheering his message.

The global economy that current students will occupy will demand personal skills that require much more than standardized test-taking ability, argued Pink, a Washington, D.C.-based contributing editor at Fast Company and the author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future.

Pink said the forces of “abundance, Asia and automation” are dramatically changing the U.S. economy and tilting the scales in favor of right-brain thinkers, who are able to process information simultaneously, make context from text and use synthesis rather than analysis. These abilities, which are hard to outsource and automate, are essential in the new economy.

In contrast, left-brain thinkers are logical, linear, sequential and analytical. “These are the “spreadsheet, SAT, get-me-the-right-answer abilities.” In the new economy, these skills are necessary but no longer sufficient, said Pink. The analytic work attached to the left-side of the brain can be easily automated, allowing it to be increasingly outsourced to other countries.

'Happyness' Author Salutes AASA and the Joys of Parenthood

Closing General Session Speaker Christopher Gardner provided an inspiring tale of how he overcame
obstacles including homelessness to found an
international holding company.
Photo by David Aleman

Christopher Gardner, the autobiographical subject of the movie and book “The Pursuit of Happyness,” applauded AASA Sunday morning for sticking with its plan to hold the 2007 National Conference on Education in New Orleans.

He spent most of the session detailing the fascinating story of his rise from homelessness and single-parenthood to his earnest quest for a livelihood in a Wall Street brokerage firm. He called the making of a movie that has drawn critical acclaim and significant profits over the past two months “a surreal part of my life.”

Gardner quipped: “These people spent $70 million to create what I did for nothing.”

He described his series of rejections from prospective employers, despite successful stints in the Navy and with a medical supply business, “not racism, but placism,” meaning it was his personal circumstances as a homeless man without a college degree that were the likely turnoffs.

In recounting the key details of his rise to what is now the ownership of an international holding company with offices on both coasts, Gardner paid special attention to detailing the special nurturing relationship he has had over time with his son, now 26.

He’s clearly most proud of one accomplishment that’s deeply personal. “The most important thing I’ve ever done is to break the cycle of men who aren’t there for their children,” he said near the end of his 80-minute presentation.

But Gardner, who grew up in Chicago, couldn’t resist ending with a salute to his hosts at the conclusion of this year’s conference.

“I’m the public education poster boy,” he announced to several hundred school leaders. “What you do in your communities every day [is to provide an opportunity] to one kid one day.”