Interview with Natasha Trivers
Hi, I’m Natasha Trivers, executive director of the Broad Center at the Yale School of Management. And prior to this role, I was a proud chief executive officer of a network of public charter schools that spanned five states during my leadership. That network is called Democracy Prep Public Schools. I’m really excited to join you for the Democracy Is a Verb series.
What inspired you to seek a life and career in public service though education?
I was inspired to pursue a career in education and to do my service work through education really by what I did not have. I grew up in a Flatbush, Brooklyn and Hollis, Queens in the eighties and nineties, the height of the crack epidemic. My mother struggled with addiction. My parents divorced when I was seven years old, and so my mom was a single mother raising five children in New York City.
And so, I just remember feeling a lot of nihilism, just nothingness. Nothing I do matters. I’m not going to be able to get the life that I want. My cards have been dealt. I have the hand that I’ve been dealt and I’m just going to have to play that out.
Until I met a teacher in middle school, her name was Ms. Hunter. She was our humanities teacher. And she really inspired me through a great education in her classroom. And through many examples of how education could transform lives and nurture some of the best leaders we’ve ever seen.
She taught us like really rich novels and really rich nonfiction texts. And many of the novels and speeches we read starred protagonists of color, which was new for me. She also taught us about social movements for change in the United States. Lots of examples of everyday citizens fighting to change our country for the better, and I just knew I wanted to be a part of that, both being an educator and also playing an active role in our democracy. She had me. I knew that was going to be like part of my life’s work. Both education and making sure that our democracy stays strong.
Why do you think educators have a unique position in promoting democracy?
Educators have this unique position in promoting democracy because educators work with students. We work with young people who are infinitely brilliant and who can’t wait to live out the rest of their lives and go after their version of success in the world.
And educators almost have a sacred duty to usher these young people on the path that they’re going to go down to go after their version of the American Dream. And particularly for students in historically under-resourced communities, that becomes really important because sometimes those students can feel that nihilism that I felt growing up.
But really great educators cultivate rich, engaging environments for learning. Where there’s a high bar for rigor, there’s rich discourse, there’s differing opinions, and those differing opinions are really celebrated. And students really love and learn across lines of difference. And they start to feel a sense of agency, like they can do anything they want in this world.
The best educators and the best building principles cultivate that kind of environment. And you can only imagine if the brilliance of these young people is unlocked and they have this sense of agency that, “I can do anything.” That’s really going to affect our democracy because you’re going to have a much more informed citizenry and a much more active and optimistic citizenry that wants to do good in the world and wants to affect our democracy in positive ways. And that’s the power of education.
How can educators inspire the next generation of leaders?
Educators, and education leaders, can inspire the next generation of leaders by really creating as many opportunities as possible for young people to be pushed out of their comfort zone. To be in environments that are unfamiliar to them and to really practice their civic skills, I would say.
So, how can we simulate policy briefs where they have to write some form of public policy to enact some kind of change that they would like to see. Where they have to do some form of public testimony where they’re really advocating for their position or advocating for certain things to happen that they believe will impact their community in a really positive way. How do they get out there and fundraise for a topic or for an initiative that they really believe in?
And at the Broad Center, our theory of change is all about pouring into public education systems leaders. We believe that if we can play a role in developing training and supporting public school superintendents, charter CEOs, chief academic officers, and state education agency leaders, we’re improving public education dramatically for public school students.
So by nurturing the best of the best in senior education roles in public school systems, we’re ensuring that the promise and brilliance of our young people is realized. That they get a truly excellent education, and that they graduate with the skills to be leaders and to be strong participants in our democracy.
How can we challenge fellow educators to engage more in their communities?
We can challenge fellow educators to engage more in their communities and to positively impact those communities by really, I think taking it back to the dinner table. A lot of the polarization we see in America right now, we’re not going to be able to build those bridges and really make folks engage more in their communities in positive ways, across lines of difference, if we don’t start at our own dinner tables.
I believe like bringing together your nuclear family, your extended family, and having really honest conversations. Sharing ideas, talking about the platforms of leaders seeking office, talking about the platforms of those we think we disagree with and debate. Try to understand the other side. Try to understand how some people could gravitate towards those platforms, or those leaders running for office.
I really think that’s how we combat polarization in this country. I really think that’s how we start to listen to opposing points of view as we really start with our own families. And then from there we can widen that circle to our larger community, our churches, different organizations that we’re a part of, different organizations that our family members are a part of. Then we can amplify that and have dialogues in other settings across lines of difference.
And then we have to be active, well read, and aware. So active in our communities. Our first role in democracy is to do everything in our power to make our communities better. We have to understand the needs of community members. We have to listen to people across lines of difference. And then we have to make work to make our communities better and do that alongside members of our community.
We have to be well read, be critical readers and consumers of information, especially with all the disinformation out there today. We need to make sure that we are well read and that we are consuming information with a really critical eye.
Next, we have to be aware. We have to truly know what the platforms are, what those running for office believe in, what they stand for, how our democracy works, how we affect change from the seats that we hold.
And finally, we have to take action. It’s what those who came before us did. We have to get out of “slacktivism,” which is that online activism, that online form of making our views heard which in some ways can be lazy, and instead get back to truly taking action in the streets and in our local communities. It really has to start there.
Thank you so much for listening. I’m enthralled by this Democracy Is a Verb series. That’s been a huge part of my work is to make sure that I am supporting a vibrant democracy through public education. Excited to have this dialogue with you today. Thank you.
