Secretary Arne Duncan: “One of the President’s Best Appointments”
At the beginning of winter break, I had lunch with the then-incumbent United States Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, in his office in Washington, D.C. The meeting was an amazing opportunity, so I used it as my impetus to complete an independent research project about the Department of Education and Duncan’s life and impact during his time there.
When Duncan, the Secretary of Education since 2009, announced he would step down from his post a year before President Obama’s second term ends, he received an outpouring of support from both his traditional allies and his usual opposition. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, one of Duncan’s frequent critics, said in a press statement that “Arne Duncan was one of the president’s best appointments.” Dennis Van Roekel, a union leader for the National Education Association and with whom Duncan often disagreed, told the Washington Post that he and Duncan “agree on where we ought to be going as a nation, to fulfill the promise of public education so that every kid has a shot…it’s good to fight over these issues.” In an interview with me, Keith Webster, Duncan’s friend since college, called him “revolutionary,” a “tireless worker,” and “one of the most humble people you will ever meet.”
From a young age, Duncan lived in two worlds. Duncan and his siblings attended kindergarten through twelfth grade at the University of Chicago’s elite private school, the Chicago Laboratory School. His family was stable and supportive, and his father was a respected professor of psychology. But Duncan spent every afternoon and summer vacation on the South Side of Chicago. His mother ran a community center there for at-risk youth, and every day, Duncan and his siblings learned alongside their mother’s inner-city students. Sue Duncan organized her youth center by age group and matched each child with an older mentor. “She was tough as nails—an amazing woman,” Arne Duncan told me. “She is the reason I work in education.”
Yet, during our meeting, Duncan was quick to acknowledge the Sue Duncan Children’s Center’s shortcomings. He compared his mother’s approach to that of Jeffery Canada, a contemporary Harlem-based social activist, educationalist, and author.
“Growing up, we didn’t do everything perfectly. We made a lot of mistakes. We accepted the state of the surrounding community and focused on providing a sanctuary for the kids.” Duncan said. “Look at what Geoffrey Canada’s doing with the Harlem Children’s Zone – he’s transforming the city block by block. We should have done what he is doing. We shouldn’t have accepted the insanity.”
After graduating from both high school and his mother’s youth center, Duncan went to Harvard University, where he played varsity basketball and majored in sociology. After his third year, Duncan took a year off to finish his thesis, The Values, Aspirations and Opportunities of the Urban Underclass. During this time, he also worked at the Sue Duncan Children’s Center.
Duncan then returned to Harvard, where he co-captained the varsity basketball team with Webster. According to Webster, “Duncan was one of the best passers I’ve ever played with. He set a lot of picks for other people so they could get open. He did a lot of dirty work. Got the rebounds. Dove on the ground to get the ball. He was selfless. He was concerned about the whole team doing well.”
Duncan’s personality on the basketball court is similar to his attitude toward his career. He eventually returned to Chicago and became Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools, during which time he met Obama, then a state senator. The two played basketball together on the weekends and became close personal friends. Duncan told me, “I never thought I wanted to be Secretary of Education. But then my friend became president. And that’s not something you expect! If someone had told me that I would be able to accomplish half of what I’ve been able to do as Secretary, I would have said ‘Sign me up!’”
True to his roots, during his tenure as Secretary, Duncan was committed to improving education for every student in America, especially poor minority students. Under Duncan’s leadership, an estimated 350,000 teaching jobs were saved by directing $100 billion in stimulus money to public schools; Congress replaced No Child Left Behind with Every Child Succeeds, a change which attempts to assuage NCLB’s over-testing in low-performing schools; national graduation rates rose to an all-time high; and pre-K and early learning have received more federal attention than ever before. Duncan is hopeful about the state of education reform. “I know poor kids can succeed,” he said. “I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. Education reform is noisy, but good things are happening.”