"This is an extraordinary time in our country, an extraordinary time to be working on education" - Arne Duncan

- from the Confirmation hearings, published in the Washington Post, Monday, 2/19

I met Mr. Duncan once several years ago at a Teach for America event in D.C., and was blown away by the passion for kids he exuded simply sitting in a room. My favorite part, highlights mine:

"I believe the fight for quality education is about so much more than education. It's a fight for social justice.

I come to this work with three deeply held beliefs.

First, that every child from every background absolutely can be successful. Rural, suburban, urban, gifted, special ed., ELL, poor, minority -- it simply doesn't matter. When we -- when we -- when we, as adults, do our job and we give them opportunities to succeed, all of children can be extraordinarily successful.

Secondly, maybe the flip of that, when we fail to properly educate children, we as educators, we perpetuate poverty and we perpetuate social failure. And that's not something that I want to be a part of.

And third, our children have one chance -- one chance at a quality education, so that we must work with an extraordinary sense of urgency. Simply put, we cannot wait because they cannot wait."

LOVE it.