I really like New Mexico. And especially, Albuquerque. I’ve been working out there for a while now. That’s why I was really pleased to get an invite from their energetic TED community to do a short talk about why we’re not progressing in public educations (it’s the design, people). I decided to add my heartfelt pitch that Albuquerque is just the kind of place to do the deeper kind of work required.

I have good friends in the Albuquerque schools and in the community. I’ve loved my work with their Center for School Leadership and the McCune portfolio. Somehow, it’s easier out there to think about what kids need, not what the adults stand for. There are not a lot of folks in NM competing to be the smartest guy in the room, heavy on top-down master planning and regulation (although the state education department can lean that way). If the technocrats stay back East, I think it’s a place where heritage, strong local roots, smart but humble people, and a Southwestern sense of wide-openness can do some of the transformative work we don’t glimpse elsewhere.

If you’ve got about six minutes to spare, please check out this link for my Albuquerque TED talk:

Thanks, and Happy Mid-Summer!

Larry