Kim Carter

First Name:

Kim

Last Name:

Carter

Hometown:

Amherst, NH

School/Organization Name:

Five Freedoms Project/QED Foundation

Job Title:

Executive Director

City:

Amherst

State:

NH

My Story:

My parents tell me I began to question authority at a very early age, and tried to take over my kindergarten. While I don't remember that, I do recall writing letters to the editor in 7th grade. But I didn't feel like anyone REALLY listened to me until I was in my early 20s and had the great fortune to work with some state leaders in Arizona who encouraged me to share my perspective. Voice matters - for everyone!

My Ideal School is a Place Where:

Over the course of my educational career I have become increasingly committed to the belief that ensuring everyone has voice and agency is the key to healthy communities and societies. I want every person to feel part of a community that honors and empowers them.

My Religious Views:

"Grace defies reason and logic... Love interrupts..." quote from Bono, to capture what I believe. Could be summed up as The Golden Rule, but I like to think of the Golden Rule as a more active force for the positive, rather than an absence of the negative.

My Political Views:

I feel strongly about social justice and individual voice. I'm an independent, because I tend toward the liberal positions of the democrats, but believe in many of precepts of Lincoln's republicans.

My Favorite Freedom:

Religious liberty, as it protects the right to follow one's conscience and operate from one's deepest beliefs.

My Personal Heroes:

Myles Horton, Martin Luther King, Jr., Harry Boyte, Debbie Meier, Tyler Perry

My Personal Motto:

"We are the ones we've been waiting for!" (Dorothy Cotton)

My Favorite Journey:

One of continual learning, curiosity and wonder ...

Recommended Reading:

Dangerous question for someone with serious book addiction!

Today's recommended reading: Creating: A practical guide to the creative process and how to use it to create anything - a work of art, a relationship, a career, or a better life by Robert Fritz

Other favorites: Revolutionizing America's Schools by Carl Glickman; Theory U, by Otto Scharmer; The Long Haul by Myles Horton, with Judith and Herbert Kohl; I and Thou by Martin Buber; Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools by Glenn Eric Singleton and Curtis Linton; The Citizen Solution by Harry Boyte; The Case for Civility by Os Guinness

Then there are the books about learning: The Art of Changing the Brain by James Zull; How People Learn by John Bransford, et al; The Right to Learn by Linda Darling-Hammond ...

Or about high school life: Class Dismissed: A Year in the Life of an American High School, a Glimpse into the Heart of a Nation by Meredith Maran; Kids and School Reform by Wasley, Hampel and Clark; The Power of Their Ideas by Deborah Meier...

Recommended Web sites:

QED Foundation -- www.qedfoundation.org -- creating and sustaining student-centered learning communities
TED: Ideas Worth Spreading -- www.ted.com -- Don't miss this incredible source of inspiration and motivation!!
What Kids Can Do! www.whatkidscando.org -- (Go BC and KC!)
DoSomething.org -- www.dosomething.org -- Using the power of online to get teens to do good stuff offline.

Quotable:

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? -- Mary Oliver

Stretching people's minds is part of educating, but always in terms of a democratic goal. That means you have to trust people's ability to develop their capacity for working collectively to solve their own problems. -- Myles Horton