A New Conversation

We partner with individuals, classrooms, schools, and organizations to foster new conversations and a new vision for schooling at the local and national levels.

Here we share the stories from students, educators, parents, leaders, and community members across the country. Each story is an expression of an individual's hopes, fears, joys, and aspirations. Each story is unique and powerful on its own. Together they are the collective dreams of a nation.

We hope you will enjoy browsing and sharing your thoughts. You can search for your state, or people you know by using the search bar. Intrigued, Inspired?! Sign up to be a Catalyst!

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Posts in Interviews

Scott, City Councilman, FL

Scott, City Councilman, FL

"Who knows! When you talk about the 80’s in Miami, a lot of dangerous stuff was happening - who knows what kind of trouble I could’ve gotten into - jail, getting shot, who knows. That teacher turned me around, and showed me that there was a positive way to expend my energies. So when I got elected in 1999 I had him come administer the oath of office to me, because no doubt, he’s responsible for that. That’s a pretty powerful example of school making a difference - one individual making a difference."

InterviewsIlana HaliwaOctober 13, 2016FLComment

Carmen, Co-Founder Project Edquity, Mother, CA

Carmen, Co-Founder Project Edquity, Mother, CA

I worry that because he’s been sheltered a bit by living an upper middle class life that his reality is different from a lot of other people who look like him. Finding your balance in that is difficult - I grew up similar – to figure out where you fit in as a black person in this world when society tells you one thing and you experience something completely different is hard. It’s probably easier for kids now because minorities are becoming the majority. But I worry that he won’t carry his identity with him in the way I do. It’s the first thing I say when people ask me to say a little about myself - I’m a black woman. Kids these days don’t carry that with them in a way they’re proud of.

Catalyst, InterviewsErin RaabOctober 10, 2016CA, motherComment

John, University Professor, Father of 2, CA

John, University Professor, Father of 2, CA

Somewhere along the line, his joy of learning was squelched. I wish that had been nurtured - that he had an enthusiasm for going out and learning things. He made a comment somewhere along the line that, “school is so dumb, basically they teach me things that I already know or teach me things I don't need to know”.

InterviewsErin RaabOctober 7, 2016CA, ProfessorComment

Emily, Undergraduate Student in Human Biology, CA

Emily, Undergraduate Student in Human Biology, CA

"I supposedly went to one of the best schools in the world and I felt like I got very little out of it. I felt a sense of shame because I didn't take 5 advanced placement courses or go to one of the top schools in the country. When everyone gets accepted to schools, they would list all of the colleges everyone went to--Brown, Stanford, etc. And then they listed my school, which was misspelled. They never expressed that it’s okay to not go to one of the top of schools in the country."

Catalyst, InterviewsNicole HenselSeptember 18, 2016CA, StudentComment

Lisa, Sociology Graduate Student, CA

Lisa, Sociology Graduate Student, CA

Education specifically is something that’s similar to parenting, where everyone thinks that, because they went to school, or because they had a parent, they are somehow experts. So it’s like “Oh, it went fine for me, that’s proof enough that it works.”... People spout a lot of opinions as fact, without a lot to back it up with.

InterviewsTamar KrepsSeptember 14, 2016CAComment

Jeff, Co-Founder of Transcend, Father of 2, NY

Jeff, Co-Founder of Transcend, Father of 2, NY

Some people would blame the teachers, some people would blame poverty, some would blame our values as a country, some people would blame unions, some would blame the “corporate reformers,” or charter schools, etc. My main feeling is that everyone’s right in some respects, but all of our views are also incomplete. In our field, we’ve had so much focus on ‘why not’ that I think we’re better off working on how we all can think differently about what’s possible for the future.

Interviews, Education LeaderErin RaabSeptember 6, 2016edleader, founder, NYComment

Parke, Mother of Two, CA

Parke, Mother of Two, CA

What I see is a lot of little things being addressed but the whole child outcome isn’t really changing. That’s a common view with people I talk to. It’s highlighted in this area: there’s a huge percentage of kids who just don’t make it through, or they make it through and then what? What is the path? If there’s no path that helps them to that life of choice and independence and healthy relationships, then what has been the point of the 18 years?

Catalyst, InterviewsErin RaabAugust 31, 2016mother, CAComment

Katrina, Executive Assistant, Artist, Mother of 2, MN

Katrina, Executive Assistant, Artist, Mother of 2, MN

I want them to appreciate that financial security can give them an element of freedom in their lives, while also recognizing that buying things isn’t where that joy is going to come from. Another way to look at it is that stability starts with balance. So really, a balanced life is what I want for them.

Interviews, CatalystErin RaabAugust 31, 2016MN, motherComment

Kiel, Physicist, IL

Kiel, Physicist, IL

The useful lesson was that you’re not just consuming a world created by other people – you’re living in a world that you’re creating and what you create is just as good as what other people are creating. That really affects my life – feeling like you’re creating parts of the world with people around you, not just living in a world created by others.

Catalyst, InterviewsErin RaabAugust 30, 2016ILComment

Tamar, Professor of Management, Mother of 2, UT

Tamar, Professor of Management, Mother of 2, UT

I think that school should make them feel comfortable thinking about what a good life is for themselves, and encourage them to value their own perspective on what it means to be successful, and pay attention to what it is that makes them feel the most satisfied. That doesn’t mean necessarily that school will allow them to feel satisfied all the time, but it should help them understand how to listen to that within themselves.

Interviews, CatalystCrystal ArrizonAugust 30, 2016mother, UTComment

Maren, Educator, Mother, CA

Maren, Educator, Mother, CA

I would like an education system in which we would have space for kids to develop at their own pace without being labeled, where kids could pursue and explore various different things, where they weren’t bound to desks and could be doing all kinds of other things, where they could have a democratic sense of the world around them - with a voice and a stake.

Interviews, Education LeaderErin RaabAugust 24, 2016CA, Teacher, edleader, motherComment

Ann, Retired Medical Technologist, NM

Ann, Retired Medical Technologist, NM

Shouldn’t that be the goal of education?....To make you grow up – and become a productive adult member of society. At the time you finish college or whatever school experience you want to do, that’s what you should be – someone who’s contributing to society.

Catalyst, InterviewsErin RaabAugust 21, 2016NM, Retired, LGBTQComment

Noah, Researcher, Father of 2, CA

Noah, Researcher, Father of 2, CA

We essentially decided it was better to have her happy in one language than unhappy in two...

We felt like the most important thing a school can do is keep alive her sense of curiosity and sense of enthusiasm for learning. Which, I think, most kids at that age have. There’s a natural joy to most five and six year-olds. They like to play and enjoy engaging in new things. If the school can keep that alive in them and not “school” it out of them, we figured that would be the best possible thing.

InterviewsErin RaabAugust 20, 2016Father, CAComment

Sasha, Bio-Engineer, CA

Sasha, Bio-Engineer, CA

Your education is not just facts – those change all the time – especially when your career is on the edge of science. In 2-3 years, everything I know will be outdated, but the mechanism of how I got to the knowledge I have now is what’s valuable.

Interviews, CatalystErin RaabAugust 20, 2016CA, ScientistComment

Daniel, Founder of Under A Tree, NJ

Daniel, Founder of Under A Tree, NJ

That’s the hardest part of it all: It’s not mean people making these decisions to hurt kids, it’s good people, decent people, people who genuinely believe themselves to be doing the right thing who are all kinds of caught in the system where they’re having to mediate and turn the same crank because of the consequences. ... That’s where the struggle is. It’s not between good people and bad people, it’s between all of us as just people trying to do the best we can and having very, very different opinions about what that looks like.

Interviews, Catalyst, Education LeaderErin RaabAugust 17, 2016edleader, NJ, FounderComment

Eric, Philanthropic Program Officer, CO

Eric, Philanthropic Program Officer, CO

I just don’t think any two students learn the same way, even identical twins. As an identical twin, Chris was always much better in numerical subjects and I actually was better in science and he was just a way better test taker. He was the first one done and he was the top of the class, and I would not be. Chris got better grades than me and typically in classes that had more tests he did a lot better. The grading system made it so that there is a very explicit comparison point between my brother and I.

InterviewsDevanie HelmanJuly 27, 2016COComment

Ali, International Development Worker, MN

Ali, International Development Worker, MN

You should learn morality and things in a public school. Something I want to see my kids have as an experience that I didn’t have is exposure to diversity. By that I mean being surrounded by people that aren’t like you and learning how to form relationships with them. Also just exploring really diverse ideas and being developing a global mindset is important from a really young age. When I think of that, I also think about being a child and if you were presented with all of these different ideas, how do you ever figure out what is right or wrong? How do you make sense of the world? Schooling must be coupled with a moral base.

InterviewsDevanie HelmanJuly 27, 2016MNComment

Laura, Artist & Librarian, Mother of 2, WI

Laura, Artist & Librarian, Mother of 2, WI

I think it’s natural for us to think about schooling as that road to a career. I think that’s very traditional and I think that’s a part of it but I think the other part is nurturing some of those passions in ways that kids might not have envisioned for themselves or their parents might not have envisioned for them.

InterviewsLinda RaabJuly 10, 2016mother, WI, librarianComment

Brandon, Data Scientist, Father of Four, MA

Brandon, Data Scientist, Father of Four, MA

The most important thing school has done for me is to teach me how to learn new stuff. I went to school for a lot of years and I remember very little of what I learned in any class. What I get paid to do right now I didn’t learn to do in school, but I was able to learn it because in school I learned to not be afraid of learning.

InterviewsAndie KemmerleJuly 2, 2016Father, MAComment

Rob, Political Philosopher, Father of 2, CA

Rob, Political Philosopher, Father of 2, CA

Part of me thinks, is it the education system that generates the lack of opportunity or is it something else? Is it a social problem? The answer is, yes, obviously, yes. ... I don’t see any reason why schools can’t give her the skills to pursue her dreams, but will those dreams secure a good life anymore is what is in question.

It can make her who she wants to be but I’m not sure if who she wants to be is going to be safe in the future.

InterviewsErin RaabJuly 2, 2016CA, FatherComment