A true education stimulates not only the intellect, but opens minds and hearts. It’s an essential key to discovering an individual’s unlimited potential, but education becomes even more powerful when we use it to work together to create a more peaceful, equitable world for everyone.
We must look beyond textbooks and standardized testing to understand how the universe of education is evolving. We must teach students how to use their minds creatively to question and search for divergent answers. The future belongs to creative thinkers—the innovators whose minds thrive on novelty through active and collaborative learning. It will be the creative minds that solve humanity’s greatest challenges. Ultimately, I believe education must compel each one of us to change. “Be the change we want to see in the world,” as Mahatma Gandhi would say. As the senior school leader, the first transformative step begins with me. I accept change as an inevitable part of growth and I understand a strong moral conviction is essential for meeting the challenges along the way when I am called upon to lead with dignity and grace.
Nefertiti Makeda, Ed.D.