On demographics or personal history alone, John Kernan doesn鈥檛 fit the profile of an educational reformer. He doesn鈥檛 have a story of being pulled into the work via the inequities he experienced because that was never a part of his own life. A white man in his mid-30s, Kernan grew up in a Detroit suburb that鈥檚 synonymous locally with affluence. His family and local public school never left him short on anything he needed. Even today, he鈥檚 principal at an elementary school not far from where he grew up, serving a student population that he describes as racially and socioeconomically 鈥渉omogenous.鈥 But chat with Kernan for an hour, and you鈥檒l hear a lot more about equity and justice in education than those pieces of his biography alone would suggest. Just ahead of his official spring graduation from UM-Dearborn鈥檚 Ed.D. program, we talked with Kernan about how his education helped him see the world the way he does, and why he thinks building fairness in education requires changing the mindset of those who are better off.
The Reporter: So, first off, congrats on the Ed.D. Only a fraction of educators go on to get a doctorate. How鈥檇 you find yourself on that path?
John Kernan: Well, it definitely wasn鈥檛 anything I planned for. When you start teaching, there鈥檚 that initial incentive to get your master鈥檚 because there鈥檚 a big pay jump. But when I did the master鈥檚 program, I realized just how much I enjoyed looking at things through a more systematic lens. And the Ed.D. program represented a chance to go even deeper with that.
The Reporter: And how would you describe that lens?
John: Well, when you鈥檙e training to be a teacher, you鈥檙e learning how to be in front of a group of kids and help them learn and grow and progress. But in my graduate education, I was learning to see how policies and social forces funnel down to what鈥檚 happening in the classroom. So it really opened my eyes to the bureaucracy and the inequities of education. Like, why, for example, are we struggling with so much in our education system, and a country like Finland doesn鈥檛 have the same problems? Well, you start peeling back the layers, and you see the history of our country, from systematic racism to policies and laws that were meant to segregate the rich and poor. And even though we say we鈥檙e breaking down those barriers, they鈥檙e still there. This coronavirus situation, in fact, puts that on full display. When schools have to go digital, a school district like mine, where you鈥檙e working with more affluent families, has a fairly easy time of it. For my cousin who works in Redford, which is a lower-middle class community, the kids are worried about what they鈥檙e going to eat.
The Reporter: And for you, it sounds like your education was really pivotal in coming to see things that way.
John: Absolutely. I was lucky enough to come from a family that was able to supply me with what I needed when I needed it, so it was never a thought. One of the things I really appreciate about the Ed.D. program is its diversity. You get to have conversations with people in a setting that鈥檚 both intimate and challenging, and it鈥檚 a chance to try to see the world the way others see it. One of my colleagues, who鈥檚 African American 鈥 just the entire makeup of her life was so different than mine, and it helped me understand why she looks at things the way she does. Another colleague 鈥 his specialty was criminology and education, and he talked a lot about the connection between poverty, education and the prison system, and how the whole system isn鈥檛 set up for people to succeed after they鈥檝e been inside. That was a story he had lived personally, and thankfully, he was one of the exceptions. But once you start looking hard at those systemic inequities 鈥 how our society is set up so that once you make a mistake, it鈥檚 difficult to recover 鈥 it鈥檚 really hard to have a simple, idealistic worldview.
The Reporter: I鈥檓 curious how you marry that vision for justice that you鈥檙e talking about with the position you hold, which you described as being in a well-resourced school district. I mean, right here in the city of Detroit, you have one of the most challenged urban districts in the country and a superintendent in Nikolai Vitti who鈥檚 doing some pretty amazing things to turn it around. Does part of you just want to go work for him, or someone like him?
John: Absolutely. In fact, I鈥檝e had chances to talk with him, and the vision he has for the Detroit Public Schools Community District is incredible. I would love to find myself doing that kind of work at some point. The problem I find now is that type of situation demands a level of dedication and time away from my family that鈥檚 not in the cards with two little kids. But there is advocacy work you can do no matter where you are. And in fact, I think because of my educational background, one of my responsibilities is to help the community I have influence over see the world through this lens as well. But it鈥檚 something I struggle with a lot. Like, how do you help people see a sense of urgency where there is no sense of urgency? Grosse Pointe, where my school is, is kind of in this bubble, and maybe even more so than some other places because it鈥檚 a place where mom and dad, grandma and grandpa all went to Grosse Pointe schools. So the bubble is generational, and we鈥檙e working with our staff and students constantly to help them see the world outside of their school or their town. I think we鈥檙e getting there, whether it's field trips or bringing people in from different backgrounds to talk with the kids, or the ways we pursue a diverse staff through hiring practices. But it鈥檚 a challenge that certainly requires a level of persistence and lots of different approaches.
The Reporter: Reading between the lines, I think what I hear you saying is these larger transformational changes that could help a place like Detroit are going to take people in Grosse Pointe getting on board and supporting those changes. Is that more or less where you鈥檙e coming from?
John: One hundred percent. The people with power in society have to understand that there is a need before change will happen. And many people in my community still don鈥檛 see the need for it, even though it鈥檚 there. I mean, we鈥檙e going through a reconfiguration where we鈥檙e shuttering two elementary schools, and many people want to know why we鈥檙e doing this to the kids. But it鈥檚 not about that 鈥 it鈥檚 demographics. It鈥檚 about the fact that we don't have enough kids or money to keep those schools open. So if we can鈥檛 get our community to understand that, how can we get them to understand challenges in a city that鈥檚 not Grosse Pointe? So it鈥檚 an extremely complex problem. All I can say is that the more I learn about education, the more engrossed I become in trying to figure out why it鈥檚 like this. You can study the history that led us here, but you can鈥檛 change history. You can only go forward. But to move forward, in many ways, you have to get people to change their view of history. And if you can figure out how you do that, you let me know.
The Reporter: One last question 鈥 can you compare John, the guy who first wanted to become a teacher, with the person you are today?
John: That鈥檚 a really interesting question. When I first thought about wanting to become a teacher, I was coaching middle school baseball and I hit a fly ball to a kid in the outfield. He missed it, and it hit his face and kind of blew up his nose. It was pretty traumatic, but seeing him recover and work hard and get his confidence back is what I enjoyed about that experience. When I became a teacher, I found that in the classroom, and that kind of individual success is really what kept me going. Now, while those kinds of individual successes are great, I think about how many more individual successes we鈥檇 have if we increased the group success rate. If we can do that, I think then we鈥檙e really moving our society forward.
