Ethan Hutt
The Bold Idea:
Engaging and empowering America’s youth in a national movement for quality education
Our Education is the voice of young people across the country who believe that all American children should have access to high quality education. Created as a response to the sad reality that the most critical stakeholders in education—students themselves—do not have a voice in school reform efforts.
Biography:
Our Education was developed through Ethan’s experiences as a student activist, teacher, and mentor.
Moment of Obligation: When and why did you decide to start your organization?
We decided to start Our Education in the spring of 2003. The decision was the product of our own experiences growing up in public schools our entire lives, our observations of both pernicious inequality in our nation’s public schools as well as a shortage of excellence, and a deeply held faith in the power and ability of young people to enact positive change on the world around them. In short, we started the organization because we believe that education will improve when students themselves are engaged, inspired, and empowered to fight to improve quality of their own schools.
Who do you look up to and why?
Beyond my dad and three sisters who offer me so much strength, support, and encouragement, I have always had a soft spot for our nation’s founding fathers. Here was a group of men who not only believed in an ideal and a vision of what the future should look like, but a group that had the intellectual, moral, and emotional strength and courage to see their experiment through some very rough times. I would not dare to compare their efforts with ours, but I have a hunch that Jefferson might have had an interest in what we are doing.
A snapshot in ten years: What is your dream of what's happening? What impact has your organization had?
In ten years, we envision a day when all American children receive a quality K-12 education in public schools. We believe that Our Education will have played a critical role in bringing this day about, by engaging millions of young people in thinking about and acting on their experiences and opinions regarding their own schools; by winning for young people a seat at the policy discussion table in local school boards and state and federal hearings; and by showing the American public that youth care passionately about the quality of their schools and will not rest until education is a national priority.
What's in your CD player right now?
Tom Petty, Full Moon Fever (in part because listening to "Runnin’ Down a Dream" feels particularly poignant right now).
What are a few book recommendations (pleasure, work and anything in between)?
Left Back by Diane Ravitch, Democracy and Education by John Dewey, and Nothing Like it in the World by Stephen Ambrose.
What websites do you go to often (work and personal)?
Quick piece of advice for people starting social change organizations:
Our best advice beyond the traditional platitudes to work hard, stay committed, ask for help, and not get discouraged, is to learn as much as you can about your constituency and the "lay of the land" in your field so that when your big chance comes – and it will come if you have a good idea – you will be in position to seize the opportunity and make the most of it.
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