"Anger without hope is pretty destructive. Anger with hope can be powerfully constructive." This week, Marshall Ganz stops by to tell us how the education system can take a page from the social movement and community organizing playbook when it comes to seeking transformational change.
Marshall Ganz is the Rita E. Hauser Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing and Civil Society at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He teaches, researches, and writes on leadership, narrative, strategy and organization in social movements, civic associations, and politics. His conversation with Rod and Jal covers a number of topics including: the diversity and promise of today's young students; how teaching needs to go beyond just skill building to include a conceptual dimension of practice; the importance of defined and shared values when organizing around a cause; the difficult balancing act of an improvement agenda versus a transformative agenda; an emphasis on "heart, head, hands" when considering the why, how, and skills needed to make a change or define a new pedagogy; and avoiding the trap of probability, focusing instead on possibility and hope.