Thursday, August 26, 2010

First Person Singular: Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

First Person Singular: Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

First Person Singular: Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

First Person Singular
(KK Ottensen)

Network News

XPROFILE


Sunday, August 29, 2010

This work for me is very, very personal. It goes back to my mother's work in a church basement starting in 1961, trying to make a huge difference, through education, in the lives of kids that had a very, very tough time. Her after-school program was literally a mile and a half from where we lived -- but it was a different world.

I grew up in Hyde Park, this middle-class, diverse community around the University of Chicago. There was a 47th Street border; no one else crossed over, but we were this crazy family that did. Growing up in a different community, a different world, is life-transforming; it shaped us. And I couldn't begin to do what I'm doing today had I not had that opportunity every day for years.

Literally, from the time we were born, we grew up with children who happened to be African American,