The Global Search for Education
“The low-income schools that are struggling seem to get the teachers that are not the best. The states have to change that situation and put the priority on placing the top teachers in low-income schools.”— Dick Riley
The Education Debate - Richard Wilson Riley
C. M. Rubin with Harry Rubin and Michael Freeborn
The last presidential debate offered little in the way of focus on education and related policy. Today in The Global Search for Education series, I continue my conversations with education luminaries to discuss the issues that we believe will be a priority for the next President of the United States.
My imaginary Secretary of Education this week is former U.S. Secretary of Education and past Governor of South Carolina, Richard Wilson Riley. A lifelong advocate for high-quality education, many Americans (according to The Christian Science Monitor) regard Riley as “one of the great statesmen of education of the 20th century.” Serving for both of President Clinton’s terms, Riley helped to launch many historic initiatives to raise academic standards, improve instruction for the poor and disadvantaged, modernize schools, expand grant and loan programs for higher education, and improve teaching, among other significant advances.
Currently, Dick Riley speaks, provides leadership and serves in an advisory and collaborative capacity with many entities to promote education improvement in the United States and abroad.
What should the role of federal government be in K- 12 education? How much more funding should be given to education reform and in what major areas should it be spent?
The federal government should establish national priorities, such as helping disabled children (IDEA) and low-income children (Title 1). Those big national priorities that generally are funded by the federal government should continue to be part of the national policy.
The other part of national education policy should be about encouraging and challenging states to improve and to reform education through innovation. We should continue to call for challenging academic standards in core subjects, allowing public charter schools as part of choice, encouraging high teacher performance - those kinds of things are part of the President’s reform package. All of those measures should be put in place by the states. The states should be submitting plans for getting those things done. So that’s how I see the role of federal government policy.
Continuing to fund education during a time of economic recession is one of the main strengths of President Obama. In the middle of a recession that was not of his making, a recession that was handed to him when he took office as president, Obama made education a priority. He recognized that this is a knowledge-based economy, not just nationally, but globally. He recognized that we could not turn around an economy if our education system was failing. He took the initiative to prioritize education. I thought and still think that this was a brave and courageous thing to do. And, frankly, I think it has worked.
What would be your position on improving the teaching profession, including recruitment, teacher training, compensation, and assignment to low-income schools?
I have enormous respect for teachers. Not all of our teachers are high-quality teachers but certainly the greater percentages of them are. Further, they generally are committed to moving through all the areas of education reform, such as technology. So I have a very good feeling for teachers.
Countries that seem to rank highest in education right now, like Finland, have prioritized teacher recruitment. They get the very top students for the education profession. They do this by offering higher compensation and other benefits. It works. I think we need to do more in that regard, particularly in terms of finding ways to attract the brightest students to the profession of teaching.
I do not think teachers are being compensated as professionals, and they should be. When you pay teachers more, you can demand more. Also, I am a strong believer in the benefit of teachers working collaboratively with each other. I believe in high-quality teachers helping to improve those that are not. I do not believe in putting one teacher in the classroom and saying that’s it, you’re on your own. When teachers work in teams, students also will learn the importance and value of working in teams.
Right now we seem to send our best teachers to the best K-12 schools. The low-income schools that are struggling seem to get the teachers that are not the best. The states have to change that situation and put the priority on placing the top teachers in low-income schools. It would be a great help if we could move in that direction.
“I firmly oppose vouchers. Public schools are struggling for resources and I believe the idea of shifting a massive amount of money over into the private schools is a mistake.” — Dick Riley
What kinds of things could the states do to make this happen?
For instance, a school in a poor community could provide a residence for a young, high-quality teacher to live in that community. Other incentives could be provided to encourage better teachers to move into low-income school areas. And assistance could be provided for current teachers in low-income schools to gain National Board certification and other professional development to improve their teaching skills.
What would be your position on school choice, including charter schools and their expansion, private schools, vouchers, and investment in inadequately staffed and facilitated low-income schools?
I very much support public school charters. As you know, I was involved in the Clinton administration and we supported charter schools as an option for school boards to develop more public school choice and more school creativity. As with opening any new school, granting a charter does not automatically guarantee success; but generally it has proven to be a good option for students and families, as well as has spurred other creative ideas within the system.
I firmly oppose vouchers. Public schools are struggling for resources and I believe the idea of shifting a massive amount of money over into the private schools is a mistake. I support quality private schools. I support quality parochial schools. But I will continue to oppose strongly the use of public money for private or parochial school vouchers.
What would be your strategy to address the domestic and international achievement gaps, including your position on early childhood education, standardized testing, on-line modular education, and teacher/principal accountability?
Achievement gaps are a major issue, and we need to deal with them.
First of all, I believe we need to look at both domestic and international comparisons in terms of setting our standards and our strategies for improvement.
The only way you can close gaps in the long term is to invest more in early childhood education. All students improve as they move through the system. However, the gap becomes very difficult to close, or even narrow, when local communities don’t make pre-school a priority. Early childhood education involves a lot of things, including parental involvement and proper healthcare to ensure children are better developed by the time they get to kindergarten. We need to focus on this, especially in low-income areas. I very much support strengthening early childhood education.
With regard to standardized testing, that is very important. But we need multiple measures of assessment to determine a child’s (and school’s) academic status and growth. Formative tests that are given on a regular basis and provide timely feedback to teachers, students and their parents are particularly effective in determining what a child knows or doesn’t know and how that child’s instruction should be adjusted to gain continuous improvement.
Evaluating teachers and principals has always been difficult and it’s receiving a lot of discussion nowadays, as it should. I believe that student achievement, especially as far as improvement is concerned, is an important part of evaluating teachers. However, I do not believe that it should be the only method of assessment used. A thoughtful school principal will look at all the different factors that affect good teaching. He or she will develop a system within the school where teachers are collaborating and helping each other to do better, a system where students are learning from students. Observing a teacher’s work in the classroom (either sitting in or using videos) and assigning mentors to work with teachers on teaching methods are other ways that performance can improve.
Evaluating a teacher also depends a lot on who the students are. A teacher with very bright students in a well-to-do suburb is more likely to achieve more in the classroom than a teacher who has students from a very poor neighborhood where the parents (who possibly didn’t have a good education themselves) are struggling. It’s very hard to compare teachers in these situations. I am a great believer in looking at individual student improvement rather than how students are doing side by side. If the students are improving, my feeling is the teacher must be doing a pretty good job.
“I do not think teachers are being compensated as professionals, and they should be. When you pay teachers more, you can demand more.” — Dick Riley
What would be your position on curriculum reform, including the role of the arts, the treatment of ethics, and the adoption of blended online learning?
Technology is now clearly a part of our education system and will continue to change the way we provide education today and in the future. I personally like the blended learning ideas - that is, a blend of online and face-to-face interaction with students. Online learning allows us to reach out in many ways. In addition, it can be done quickly, from any location and at all times of the day. Blended learning will be an important part of education.
I strongly support music and the other arts in education. Enhancing the creative side of learning is extremely important, and studies have shown that music instruction has a beneficial effect on learning math and other core subjects. Learning to be creative, informed and well-rounded is important for our economy and it is important for our world.
Ethics is a very important part of growing up and learning. Parents have a strong role to play in that but so do schools and teachers. Positive role models are one of the best ways to illustrate strong ethics.
What would be your position on how to make college affordable for more qualified low-income students?
The cost of a college education is becoming a big national problem.
I am supportive of early college high schools. This idea of students finishing high school with one and in some cases two years of college behind them will save students money and time. The total cost of a four-year degree also can be reduced by spending the first two years at a community or technical college. This is good.
In President Obama’s plan, he encourages cost containment by colleges and universities. I think they all should be aware of this, paying attention to it and doing something about it. Pell grants, which the President has increased by more than 50%, are a tremendous benefit to low-income students. Also, significant cost savings to students, their families and all taxpayers have resulted from the federal Direct Lending program. With the community colleges and early college high schools programs, plus cost containment, Pell grants and Direct Lending, among others, we all should be able to work together to make college more affordable.
Dick Riley and C. M. Rubin
Photos courtesy of Riley Institute at Furman University and Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough L.L.P.
In The Global Search for Education, join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (US), Dr. Leon Botstein (US), Professor Clay Christensen (US), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (US), Dr. Madhav Chavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (US), Professor Andy Hargreaves (US), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (US), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. Eija Kauppinen (Finland), State Secretary Tapio Kosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Professor Ben Levin (Canada), Lord Ken Macdonald (UK), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (US), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (US), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (US), Yves Theze (Lycee Francais US), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (US), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
The Global Search for Education Community Page
C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
The Global Search for Education
“It is impossible to overestimate how important educational institutions are to society. We need to invest in them.” — Lord Ken Macdonald
International Thinking
By C. M. Rubin with Harry Rubin and Michael Freeborn
The technology revolution continues to play a significant role in making it easier for students to think internationally in terms of their higher education options. The Internet has made it simpler for students to research and apply to universities. Interviews can be done by Skype. At a time when President Obama has raised awareness for the rise in U.S. college costs, American students are increasingly thinking international and seeking their degrees across the pond (in England) according to HESA. Not only are there in many cases savings to be made in tuition fees, the top UK universities rival the best American ones in terms of prestige (see Times Higher Education World University Rankings and U.S. News World’s Best Universities Rankings). Putting aside finances and rankings, what price would you put on the cultural experience of studying in one of the oldest and most famous universities in the world?
“Architecture aims at Eternity,” said Sir Christopher Wren — astronomer, mathematician, the greatest architect of his age and an alumnus of Wadham College, University of Oxford. One definitely gets the sense, when talking with other illustrious alumni of this institution, that it has been built and sustained to last for eternity. Wadham College was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham in the reign of King James I. Nicholas Wadham (a Somerset landowner) died in 1609, leaving his fortune to endow an Oxford college in the very capable hands of his 75-year-old widow Dorothy. This remarkable lady overcame numerous challenges to open the college within four years of her husband’s death and continued to support and sustain it until her own death in 1618. The college only accepted men initially, but it went on to become one of the first colleges at Oxford to allow women as full members in 1974.
“Oxford now sets its own entry exams, that is, tests for individual subjects.” — Lord Ken Macdonald
On September 1, 2012, Lord Ken Macdonald, one of the UK’s top criminal lawyers and a former Director of Public Prosecutions, will commence as Warden (head of the college). Lord Macdonald was Director of Public Prosecutions for the UK from 2003-2008. In 2007 he was knighted for services to the law. In July 2010, he became a Liberal Democrat Peer and a member of the House of Lords, with the title Lord Macdonald of River Glaven QC. He is a visiting Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Criminology at the University of Oxford. I had the opportunity to chat with him about his international thinking for Wadham College, among other things.
What do you see as the most important contributions an Oxford education makes to the intellectual and character development of the individual?
Oxford is about education at a very high level. Broadly speaking, entry is very competitive. We’re looking to attract the brightest kids from the broadest possible backgrounds. Once we understand our incoming students’ potential, we deliver a pretty intensive program of work designed around developing that potential fully. We want them to be the best that they can be. Right from the start of their careers as freshmen, our undergraduates are taught by college fellows who are world leaders in their field of interest, either one-to-one or in tutorial groups of two or three. So they are getting the benefit of very high level, personalised intellectual input from the start. This approach to teaching is one of Oxford’s great strengths. Essentially, we want to provide an environment in which people can progress as far as they are capable of going.
“We want to provide an environment in which people can progress as far as they are capable of going.” — Lord Ken Macdonald
What are your views about standardized tests and the university admissions process? How do you ensure you are getting the brightest kids out there for Wadham?
Let me give you my view of this from what I have seen at Wadham. All the young people who enter Wadham from the UK will have done very well in their A Level examinations. They will have achieved Grade A or A* in their subject areas.
Additionally, we have reverted to what used to happen thirty or forty years ago. Oxford now sets its own entry exams, that is, tests for individual subjects. For example, if a student wants to read English, the student has to take a specific test. There are also special tests for Law, Politics and Philosophy, languages and so on. The examinations are very good at assessing people’s potential as much as their past experience. The tests include things that the students may have studied at A Level but there may also be questions that are well off the school syllabus. Students will be expected to show some creativity when answering them. That’s an important part of our assessment process. The next part of our assessment process is that every candidate under consideration is interviewed. They are interviewed by the world-renowned tutors who will be teaching them should they be accepted. I sat in on some interviews with students who wanted to study German as well as interviews for students who wanted to study Classics. In each interview, the candidate was given a poem in English twenty minutes before he came in to see the tutor. The tutor then asked him to deconstruct the poem and to critique it. The process gives the tutor an opportunity to assess the student’s ability to think creatively and of course, under pressure. It is a challenging process but it is designed to evaluate what a person may be capable of in the future as well as where that person is at the moment.
“Putting aside the challenges, I believe that technology is going to be at the heart of how education is delivered during the course of this century.” — Lord Ken Macdonald
I assume you want to attract students from anywhere in the world? Those students are going to have studied different curricula in different education systems. How will you assess those students?
Wadham is very relaxed about students coming from a different kind of education background. That’s not a problem for us. Let’s suppose you had a student coming from the United States. Their school curriculum is going to be different from ours in the UK. In the United States, students do not specialize in subject areas while in secondary school as they do in the UK, and so American students may not yet be at the level of those students coming from an English school. That doesn’t necessarily trouble our fellows because they are looking for future potential as well as the good examination results that you will have received to date.
We have world-class universities in the UK and I think we see the rest of the world as a big opportunity in continuing to develop them. UK universities have as high proportion of international students as any other country in the world, and that is particularly true at Oxford. For instance, Wadham accepts a group of students from Sarah Lawrence College in the US every year. This has been a very successful program. I teach graduate classes at the London School of Economics and I would say 70% of my students are from outside the UK. Wadham is one of the strongest colleges academically at Oxford and I am particularly keen that we increase the number of incoming students from North America because there is obviously so much talent in those countries. Many of our foreign graduate students come from North America. We also have many undergraduates from around the world, especially from China, Hong Kong, India and Europe. Obviously, the larger the pool of bright students you have to select from, the higher the intellectual quality of your student body.
What’s your view on international assessments such as the IB?
I am quite keen on the International Baccalaureate and some schools in the UK have now introduced it. I personally think A Levels are a little too specialized. For example, my son is currently doing A Level English, History and French. If he was doing the Baccalaureate, he’d be doing more subjects and I personally think that is better. UK academic institutions are very aware of the international marketplace. A bright student applying from a North American school to Wadham will be assessed firstly in terms of the context of the education they have had to date and secondly in terms of the potential they show through the special Wadham assessment test and the interview. We would not necessarily turn down a student because they were not at A Level standard in a particular subject. If we thought they were capable of getting up to speed and of thriving at Oxford, that would be sufficient and we would welcome them with open arms.
“What I want Wadham to be is a beacon for high academic achievement, for fairness in selection and for creating an international community.” — Lord Ken Macdonald
Technology presents opportunities and challenges. How do you view the role of technology and the Internet in higher education?
First of all, I believe the Internet is a fantastic resource for students. Students now have information at their fingertips that I only dreamt of when I was a doing my A Levels. I had two or three textbooks and what you could get out of the library. So students now have fantastic resources. Secondly however, this easy availability may present a risk, which is the temptation to get everything you need at the last minute — you may become over-reliant and get out of the habit of thinking for yourself. The third thing is the problem of plagiarism and that’s an issue all universities face. We have to be vigilant. The internet, when properly used, is a fantastic resource for students. Additionally, the ways in which students can communicate with each other, with their teachers, throughout the college and the world are brilliant. Putting aside the challenges, I believe that technology is going to be at the heart of how education is delivered during the course of this century.
Picking up the reins in your new role as Warden of Wadham, any final thoughts you would like to add?
I think educational institutions are wonderful things. They are capable of building communities, spreading knowledge, developing civilization — all of these important things. It is impossible to overestimate how important educational institutions are to society. We need to invest in them. I don’t just mean in financial terms but in intellectual and emotional terms as well. What I want Wadham to be is a beacon for high academic achievement, for fairness in selection and for creating an international community in which students, fellows, and graduates can come together in intellectual drive. I think the universities in Britain are absolutely integral to the way we British see ourselves. They are important institutions and we need to nurture them.
More information on Oxford tuition costs for international students.
Lord Ken Macdonald and C. M. Rubin
Photos courtesy of Wadham College, University of Oxford.
Thanks to HESA and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
In The Global Search for Education, join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (US), Dr. Leon Botstein (US), Professor Clay Christensen (US), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (US), Dr. Madhav Chavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (US), Professor Andy Hargreaves (UK), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (US), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. Eija Kauppinen (Finland), State Secretary Tapio Kosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Professor Ben Levin (Canada), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (US), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (US), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (US), Yves Theze (Lycee Francais US), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (US), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
The Global Search for Education Community Page
C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
The Global Search for Education
Dwight teacher Paul Sanders and student learn Mandarin in Beijing
How to Develop World Leaders
By C. M. Rubin with Harry Rubin and Michael Freeborn
“I don’t speak a foreign language. It’s embarrassing,” said President Obama recently.
It is embarrassing, Mr. President, but it does not surprise me. You did not grow up like I did. Five different overseas schools and numerous cultures before I was 12, and then an international boarding school. My parents (with six children) were following a pay check and a conviction that world travel would give us a better life and make us global citizens with a richer appreciation of all humanity (my father made us study the language of every country we visited, because not to speak the language of your host country was quite frankly, uneducated!). So, now you’re wondering, can I produce a copy of my birth certificate? Yes, but while it will tell you that I am a British Citizen born in Georgetown, Guyana, my husband will tell you, “She’s a multi-national with an international rolodex to be envied.”
Some people talk about preparing children for the global world, others just do it, like my parents. And like Stephen Spahn, Chancellor of the Dwight School in New York City, who has established affiliate Dwight campuses in London, Vancouver Island, and Beijing, where Dwight has a joint diploma program with China’s Capital Normal High School (CNHS), a leading provincial high school. As an International Baccalaureate leader, Spahn’s vision is to educate students to make a difference nationally and internationally. Plans are currently underway for a South Korean Dwight school launch in 2012.
“The Chinese government valued Chancellor Spahn’s international mindedness, cultural sensitivity and expertise,” explains Dianne Drew, Principal of Dwight School in New York City and Project Manager of the school in China. “They also wished to improve admissions of Chinese students to American colleges, which the Chinese consider the best universities in the world.”
Mandarin study at Dwight in New York starts as a core subject from pre-school onwards with more intensive classes available from Grades 8 -12. Other curriculum offerings include Asian cultural and history studies. Each student who participates in the program in China receives a diploma based on concurrent study of a full Chinese National Curriculum and a U.S. AP curriculum. The Dwight college guidance and admissions team assists Chinese students in their application process to American colleges.
I had the pleasure of speaking further with Chancellor Spahn about his roadmap to develop world leaders.
What is your global vision?
Our global vision, as an International Baccalaureate leader, is to build strong relationships between cultures around the world. We want to educationally integrate our campuses in New York, London, Beijing, Vancouver Island, and Seoul in 2012. Our personalized learning approach ignites a spark of genius in every student through a multi-grade mentoring system. We are expanding opportunities for all students and teachers to experience other cultures. Each individual country campus has unique strengths that can be shared with students at the other schools. For example, Korean and New York students will be equipped with the latest digital technology; the campus on Vancouver Island in Canada is a model of environmental sustainability (one-third of the faculty are organic farmers); the London and New York performing arts programs are equivalent to first-year college programs.
What were the challenges in founding the first American high school in China?
The first challenge was to build trust between our schools. When we started in 2007, Chinese students were almost exclusively exam-focused. We had to teach them that learning does not end with an AP exam but that it is an ongoing lifelong process. We thought that the Chinese would have a strict censorship policy. However, we discovered that all of the literary works we taught in New York were able to be taught in Beijing. We have successfully met the challenge of educating Chinese parents on the full spectrum of American universities available to their children. Sixty students are about to receive both a Dwight and a CNHS Diploma. Our first graduation will be held on June 10. All graduating Chinese students have been admitted to leading American Universities.
What are your next steps relating to China?
Our relationship with our school in China will continue to foster international mindedness amongst our students and faculty. Over the last three years, we have had teacher exchange opportunities where we have shared best teaching and learning practices. Our students have travelled to Capital Normal, and this summer we will send six students and one teacher to Beijing for a summer camp opportunity; they will live with CNHS families as guests of the Beijing government. Our program has been a steep but enriching learning curve for both schools. We are moving towards strengthening our ties even further as we make a joint application for the Confucius classroom program run by the Chinese government to promote language and cultural studies. We have been proud to be an instrumental part of preparing Chinese students for Western education models and for their eventual acceptance into North American colleges and universities. We equally want our students to be open to exploring China’s university education and rich culture by having more exchange opportunities in Beijing. We recognize that global sensitivity and expertise will be crucial for future success and for developing world leaders.
Dwight South Korean school project 2012
Why South Korea 2012?
Korea is a significant player in the Asian community from an educational and economic standpoint. Dwight was selected from a review of over 100 leading schools around the world to be the International Baccalaureate model for the Korean educational system. 540 students, grades K-12, will be enrolled starting September 2012. We will also act as the regional center for all the IB schools in Korea. The Dwight International School Seoul is being built by the Seoul municipal government. With the opening of the new campus in September 2012, the school in Seoul will offer training programs for IB teachers and will be the center to share IB best practices with interested Korean schools.
World Wisdom – An excerpt borrowed from Chancellor Spahn’s Chinese graduation speech:
“School is a place that is built on dreams. Dreams where each individual is encouraged to blaze a path where none existed. School is a place that is never stuck in the past, but always honors tradition. It is a place that embraces innovation with all its different and difficult challenges. It is a place that honors teamwork and comradeship, but still guides every individual through his or her own unique path. Dare to dream – to have the courage to take risks – to be a person of action – to make service count – to fill every unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run – to acknowledge we only have 24 hours in any day and we should use them in ways that make us proud and nurture our spark of genius, to build a better world.”
In The Global Search for Education, join C.M. Rubin and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Leon Botstein (US), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (US), Dr. Madhav Chavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (US), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Professor Ben Levin (Canada), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. David Shaffer (US), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (US), Yves Theze (Lycee Francais US), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (US), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
Chancellor Stephen Spahn Graduation Speech
The Global Search for Education Community Page
C.M. Rubin has more than two decades of professional experience in development, marketing, and art direction for a diverse range of media businesses. She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice In Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
