Brave Leadership in Trying Times

The final Askwith Education Forum of the spring 2025 semester marked the beginning of the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s latest professional development program.

“Brave Leadership and the Future of American Education” took center stage at Askwith Hall on Wednesday night, as Lecturer Timothy Patrick McCarthy moderated a panel featuring leaders discussing the “unprecedented” challenges the American education system currently faces.

The event featured Miguel Cardona, former U.S. secretary of education; Monique Couvson, president and CEO of Grantmakers for Girls of Color (G4GC); and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).  

McCarthy called the panelists “inspirations” and quoted the late Congressman John Lewis’ words to call them “long-distance freedom fighters.”

“The three of you are people who have done the work for so long,” said McCarthy. “For those of us who are tired on the road right now, you are inspirations to keep going. And so it is such an honor to have you here.”

The panelists discussed the widespread changes within the education sector and the impacts that funding cuts and other changes will have in states and school districts across the country. Throughout the conversation, the panelists offered advice on how to approach these challenges and where there may be opportunities to refocus mission and purpose. 

“Learning is fundamentally an opportunity for healing and an opportunity for us to express the most raw and purest forms of love with our young people,” said Couvson.

McCarthy noted the panel was an effort to center challenges to the education system as civil rights, labor, and justice issues, not just a matter of political ideology.

“Our focus has to be how we at this moment not only save education but strengthen it,” said Weingarten. “It is both fighting the harm that is happening right now, but also at the same time, as hard as it is, to create in this liminal space the opportunity for people to see that we are about bold things.”

While the discussion raised serious concerns about the direction educational policy is headed and the potential harm to the country’s most vulnerable students, the panelists noted times of crisis are an opportunity to model brave leadership in the months and years ahead.

“This is the best time to lead. They need you now, our country’s in crisis. The public education system is in crisis,” said Cardona. “We need leaders to stand up and say ‘No, we’ve got you.’”

The event marked the launch of the B.R.A.V.E. Institute, a professional development class launched this month. Based on McCarthy’s work, the institute is designed to provide educators with values-based practices to become more effective and inspiring leaders and foster cultures of compassion, community, and courage in the educational settings that matter most to them.

McCarthy also noted the attendance of Patricia Askwith Kenner, granddaughter of Herbert Askwith A.B. ‘07, for whom the Askwith Education Forum is named.