Book Cover Radical by Michelle Rhee
Right now our country has the opportunity to have one of the greatest educators in our country, Michelle Rhee, become our Secretary of Education. President-elect Trump met with Michelle yesterday, ostensibly to discuss the possibility, and I hope it comes to fruition.
Michelle transformed the DC school system and is leading voice for education reform. She led the DC school system from 2007–2010. Her policies are entrepreneurial by design and should fit in well with President-elect Trump’s entrepreneurial mentality. Her policies have been based around aligning incentives, rewarding teacher performance and ensuring that the best teachers teach our children.
Kudos to our president-elect for the consideration — she is after all a Democrat. However, she supports strongly what Trump has made the centerpiece of his education policy — something that can transform our education system for the better: school choice.
School choice is about enabling parents to send their children to schools where they can get a better education, breaking free from property-tax driven school districts. Michelle believes in school choice for those who need it the most. That is giving kids a chance at an equal opportunity. This concept can provide an even playing field for all students.
The press will speak to her qualifications and achievements, which stand on their own merit. Today, I am writing this story from my heart and hope that our President-elect chooses someone very special to listen to us, to learn with us and to lead us and our children into the future.
While I didn’t have the luck of having her lead my classroom, I consider myself a student of Ms. Rhee. In the past couple of years I had the privilege of getting to know her. What I took away from our interactions is that she exemplifies the super power of the greatest leaders, that of listening. To me her greatest skill and what she can instill in all of us, isn’t the plaques on her wall, but the ears on her head. She listens.
The mark of a good teacher is being a good listener. We are fortunate enough that today our President-elect met with one of the greatest listeners I know, Michelle Rhee. Growing up, I had teachers who lectured, I had teachers who taught, yet I had few teachers who truly listened. One day you think back and realize that the teachers who made an impression on you the most were the ones who listened and engaged you in the dialogue of education.
The best education comes from when the teacher is the listener, because then she can ask the right questions, challenge your assumptions and help you think through the challenges you face. Google is for remembering information. Education is about the dialogue of progress.
Michelle is always willing to listen, no matter how crazy the idea, now matter how raw or undeveloped the concept. She listens and asks the tough questions; is humble enough to acknowledge what she doesn’t know and is inspiring to help solve the challenges that come up in the process. It’s rare to have that perfect blend of listening, thoughtfulness and humility in one person. That is Michelle Rhee.
Think about how many people in your life you can say are great listeners. Now think about, how much you learned from those great listeners. Our country has an opportunity to make someone truly extraordinary the leader of our education system. I am eternally delighted and excited for the possibility of Michelle taking the reigns.
One way to judge how much you trust someone is to ask yourself, “Will you introduce this person to someone you love?” When someone very close to me hatched an idea for an education startup, the first thing I did was introduce her to Michelle. That is the greatest compliment I can give. #DreamFWD
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