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# Secretary Cardona Delivers Remarks On The Importance of Mustering Will in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University

# Secretary Cardona Delivers Remarks On The Importance of Mustering Will in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University

May 17, 2023

**Contact:  **press@ed.gov

                                    -        
Good evening, Teachers College, Columbia University!

What an honor to receive the Medal for Distinguished Service.  

I  accept this on behalf of Avelino and Maria Cardona, and Germana Muniz, my  grandparents who took a leap of faith and traded paradise for the projects, so their children and grandchildren can have a better life.  This award is theirs.  

I’m  thrilled to join you here to celebrate this incredible group of graduates.  Congratulations to the class of 2023! Give yourselves a hand.

Anyone here part of the Organization and Leadership program?

How about our math, science, and technology graduates?!

Any supportive parents, children, spouses, family and friends here?  

Yes! Today is a special day.  

Look, you are joining or advancing in the best profession at a time when they need us  most.  

In  a few moments, you will cross the stage and get your degree...but this is just  the beginning.  Never stop learning, and make  sure you learn from every experience, and even from non-traditional sources. 

I  gotta be honest, I get inspiration for learning from all different places...even  music.  In fact, there is a New Yorker  whose musical catalog is a soundtrack to my journey in education.  Anyone ever hear of Marc Anthony?

Well,  he sang a song that, to me, is the perfect metaphor to the role of Education in  this country at this time.  The song is *Flor  Palida*, which translates to wilted flower. 

After the pandemic, education was  a *Flor Pálida*: a flower wilting under a storm  like no other.    *“Marchita y desojada, casi pálida,  ahogada en un suspiro.”*  It was gasping for air,  wilted and missing its vibrant petals.

Like the learning of our young  people, it was severely disrupted.

Mental health needs escalated.

Academic levels hit the lowest  marks in decades.

And opportunists who stand to  benefit from framing public education as a dead end created culture wars to  divide school communities in order to privatize public education—the great  equalizer.   

Yes, education emerged from the  pandemic as a Flor Pálida.

The thing is, graduates, to recover  the strength, vibrancy and beauty of a wilted rose, you need master gardeners. 

If our education system is the  wilted rose in a garden, you are the master gardeners who will bring our garden  back to life.     And this class of Master Gardeners is filled with teachers of science, teachers  of technology, teachers of math, instructional pioneers and educational leaders  who will be responsible for executing the transformational change that our  parents and students need, and deserve.  

You are the master gardeners whose  efforts will lead to a garden of beautifully diverse flowers that will continue  to grow and bring hope to this country and this world.  

The song says, toward the end. “*Recuperó  el color que había perdido porque encontró un cuidador que la regara.”*

It recovered its beauty and color  because it found someone to water it.  

*“De aquella flor, hoy el dueno soy  yo!”*

Meaning, I now am responsible for  that flower....

We now are responsible for  education.  

And with the master gardeners here,  whether you enter the classroom, non-profit, or administrative positions, I am  confident in the future of our 65 million students in America.  

I  want to thank President Bailey, Board Chair Nelson, Professor Wasserman, and  Interim Provost Baldwin for welcoming me here – and honoring me with this Medal  of Distinguished Service.

Professor  Wasserman, you were kind to share a bit about my own doctoral capstone.  The title, “Sharpening the Focus of Political  Will,” was about something I still believe in: that transformative change in  education is possible, if we muster the will.  

Here,  I want to draw inspiration from one of your most distinguished past graduates.  

She  got started as an early childhood educator, teaching 4-year-olds at a childcare  center in Harlem. 

At  night, she would take the subway to take her Master’s classes at Teachers  College, where she enrolled because she felt that “education is the only real  passport out of poverty.”

Later  on, as a member of the New York State Assembly and then the U.S. Congress, she  fought for scholarships so more Black young people could access higher  education.  She made sure teachers who  went on maternity leave didn’t lose their jobs.   She pushed for job training centers to connect learning to careers.

The  name of that Teachers College alum?   Shirley Chisholm.

You  might know her better for her incredible achievements as the first Black woman  elected to Congress – and the first Black woman to run for President of the  United States as part of a major party.

But  it was her belief in the power of education to opens doors that caused her to  make Teachers College part of her journey.

At  every step of the way, she saw how the status quo in education was broken. She  reimagined what the system could be.  And  she succeeded – because she mustered the will.

**So  as you go forward on your journey, Teachers College degree in hand, I encourage  you to muster your will in three big ways.**

**First:  keep the will to chase your passion, not position.**

Look,  I know how tempting it is to see your end goal as a particular job. 

But  if you wait for the position you want to demonstrate the will we need, you  might miss an opportunity to make a difference for students – here and  now.  

I  have the same passion today to serve my students, close achievement gaps, and  give them every opportunity to succeed, as I did when I was a 21 year old 4th  grade teacher with 23 students.  Today,  the scope is just greater.  My passion  never changed.   

**The  second area where we need your willpower in education is in the will to  prioritize systems, not superheroes.**

I’m  sure your studies here at Teachers College have shown you: there are pockets of  excellence all over this country.  Name  any state, and you can find a superhero principal or an all-star superintendent  doing incredible things.

With  your Teachers College training, you might well become the next superheroes in  education.  I hope you will.  

But  let’s also be clear: what we need to focus on is building systems, not superheroes.  Our goal is to have the improvements we bring  to education outlast us in our current roles.  

So  if it’s working: sustain it.  If it’s  broken: reimagine it.  And if it doesn’t  exist: build it.

Remember:  investing in our children is no different than investing in defense – both  protect our tomorrow.  We can’t do that  without systems that last. 

**That  brings me to my final piece of advice about how we apply our will in education.**

It  came from a special education teacher in Connecticut, Rindy Hardy.

At  the time, I was just 21, and I was getting ready to leave after finishing as a  student teacher.  This was back in the  1900s.  

At  my farewell party, she pulled me aside and said, *“Miguel, never forget – you  teach kids, not curriculum.”*

I  think it was her way of warning me: you’re gonna get overwhelmed with the  requirements of the curriculum.  All the  paperwork.  All the rules.  All the mandates from the central  office.  

But  you can’t lose sight of what this is really all about: working for  children.  Working for families.  Working for people.

Education  is a people business.  

See,  at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many degrees you have.

It  doesn’t matter what letters you have after your name.  

It  doesn’t even matter if you know how to write policy.  

What  matters is if you are able to use your God given gifts to improve the lives of  the students you serve.  If you do, you  will always be happy.  

Passion,  not position.  Systems, not  superheroes.  Kids, not curriculum.  Imagine what’s possible when you put the full  force of your will behind each of those priorities.

As  Shirley Chisholm once said: “you don’t make progress by standing on the  sidelines, whimpering and complaining.   You make progress by implementing ideas.”

Now  more than ever, we need your courageous leadership in education.  

That  means breaking the mold.  It means  challenging the status quo.  It means being  willing to get a little uncomfortable for your beliefs.  

If  your bold ideas and leadership are not making some people uncomfortable, you  are not pushing hard enough.  

Today,  as you embark on the next phase of your journey in education, one where you  serve as master gardeners responsible for cultivating a beautiful garden of  learners, you will use what you learned at Teachers College to make a  difference for children, and for our country.  

With  you as master gardeners—our country is in good hands.  

Congratulations  again to the class of 2023, and thank you!
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