A piece written by Natasha Trivers, Chief Executive Officer of Democracy Prep Public Schools.
You know very well who you are
Don’t let ‘em hold you down
Reach for the stars
— Notorious BIG
I remember the exact moment I fully realized how transformational an education can be for a young person; it is the same moment I decided to become a teacher. In my junior year at Rutgers University, I studied the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the Soweto Uprising in South Africa. I was so floored by the bravery and resilience that youth activists demonstrated in both movements. These were school-aged children and young adults putting their lives on the line—Black people and white people—to secure equal rights for Black people. Up until that moment, I went to college with the hopes of becoming an attorney to combat mass incarceration of people of color; I wanted to support children who found themselves enmeshed in a criminal justice system, with no way out. But I soon realized—after delving deep into American history, political science, and Afro American studies and tutoring 4th and 5th graders in my after school program in New Brunswick—that I’d rather get to children before they ever got enmeshed in a criminal justice system that is desperately in need of reform. I wanted to educate them. My goal was that each child who entered my classroom would be prepared to go after their own version of the American dream. I didn’t want any child to feel trapped in a world of poverty, nihilism, or violence. I wanted them to believe they had a choice and that they not only have a seat at the table but have voice and true decision-making power at that table.
It is invigorating to see all of the energy and excitement around the 2024 election season. At Democracy Prep Public Schools, civic engagement is a core part of our mission and our DNA. All of our students engage with our civics curriculum and programming—they register people to vote, participate in annual service learning projects, and are leaders in their student government to enact change in their school community and local neighborhoods. It is activities like these that teach every Democracy Prep scholar the importance of being an engaged citizen and an active participant in our democracy. It’s amazing to see so many people, our students included, energized about the presidential election and consequential elections at the state level. Additionally, some experts say that 2024 is, across the globe, “the biggest election year in modern history,”asking the key question: Will Democracy prevail? Here in the American context, we face our own historical presidential election, with the potential of electing the first woman (and first woman of color) to serve as President of the United States. Like me, many voters understand how fragile our democracy is, in our everyday lives and in a global context. And, many are putting their stake in the ground in the fight for what our country looks like for years to come.
David Gergen describes revolutionary leadership in the public arena as “hearts touched with fire” in his book of the same title. He chronicles so many moments in American history when leaders at various levels of public service had defining moments where they put their all into fighting for what they believed in. And they deployed strategy, strength, and resolve to boot.
I have spent 25 years in education and my heart has been struck with fire every single day on the job, whether it be as a classroom teacher, a school principal, or as superintendent. What fires me up and has me working in what some would describe as a thankless job is the idea that what happens each day in that classroom will have a profound impact on the trajectory of the young people sitting in those seats. I understand that fixing public education in this country is a matter of civil rights in 2024. I understand that the median income for a white family is 25K higher than the median income for a Black family in America today. I understand that Black Americans make up 37% of the population in prison and jails, while only making up 13% of the general population. I see teachers every day at Democracy Prep whose hearts are touched with fire when they see our parents working so hard to support their children on their path to and through college, from getting them all those elements of the uniform on time for the launch of a new school year to practicing Math facts with them at home each night. I see teachers whose hearts are touched with fire by the brilliance of our students and the importance of their role as educators. They are showing up as models and mentors for our students. They are showing up with well-planned lessons designed to close opportunity gaps, accelerate learning, engage learners, and strike our students’ hearts with fire about the inequities that still exist in our world and the significant problems we must solve together to build a better tomorrow. I see teachers arriving to school buildings in Harlem, the Bronx, San Antonio, and the historic west side of Las Vegas at 7am fired up to change the world, with no superhero cape, just lots of preparation, deep belief in the generations-deep work they are doing, and a profound commitment to our students, their families, and our communities.
As a nation, many of us are working to reverse the effects of climate change, fortify our democracy, reform the criminal justice system, ensure our economy stays strong and income inequality doesn’t widen, but we must also strengthen our support for public education. We need to stop villainizing our teachers for poor academic performance and instead equip them with the tools necessary to run successful classrooms and ensure that their salary is proportionate to the life-changing work they do every day. We need more creative programs like the Teacher Incentive Allotment in Texas which rewards excellent teachers with six figure salaries. We need federal programs like the Charter Schools Program and Title I funding to be fortified, not cut back.
“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”
— George Bernard Shaw
We need young people, our Gen Zers and later, the Gen Alphas, to consider jobs that “put you on a path to changing the trajectory of the world,” as presented by Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America, and current CEO of Teach for All. We need them to consider roles in schools. Especially after the disastrous effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to ensure that the next generation truly has the ability to go after their version of the American Dream. We must use education to eliminate inequities and ensure our young people are hip to all the ways the cards are currently stacked against them so they can navigate this new world, leverage technology, and acquire generational wealth. We must not lose sight of the fact that educational inequity is a civil rights issue.
However, the weight of fixing public education can not rest solely on the shoulders of our educators, current or future. Mike Bloomberg’s Summer Boost grant has allowed schools across the country serving some of the most historically underserved communities to significantly narrow COVID learning gaps in a few short years. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed to making grants aimed to help all students achieve at high levels by improving teaching and learning, and enhancing access to technology. We need more foundations to redouble their efforts to improve public education, not dilute them.
We need business owners, philanthropists, and the average American citizen to prioritize education. We need legislators, policy wonks, and research analysts to turn to public education as the defining element of their career. We need people to get fired up about inequities that still persist in public schools the same way they got fired up about Black children being beaten for daring to sit at a segregated lunch counter in the south. If every child is truly to be “judged [and to experience life] not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” we must be compelled to act now in support of public education for all children in America, regardless of zip code or socioeconomic status. We too must have our hearts touched with fire.
Our future elected officials, entrepreneurs, fortune 500 CEOs, philosophers, climate activists, rappers, like the late great Biggie Smalls, and teachers depend on it.