When started going to school in the United States and only spoke Spanish, Miguel Cardona had to adapt to a system that was not designed for him, and he has dedicated his life to help other students in similar circumstances, a mission that plans to continue as Secretary of Education .
Cardona, from 45 years, was confirmed this Monday by the Senate as Secretary of Education , a position from which he will have to lead the President Joe Biden’s promise to reopen by May most of the country’s schools that teach under the age of 12 years, now closed due to the pandemic.
“There is no way to substitute the experience of a class, of our students learning in front of their teacher, ”said the new Secretary of Education during his confirmation hearing in the Senate, in early February.
Puerto Rican roots
Card Ona, born in Connecticut to Puerto Rican parents, is the second person with Puerto Rican roots and the third Latino to be promoted to United States Secretary of Education, after John B. King, Jr. (2016 – 2017) and Lauro Cavazos (1988 – 1990).
When Biden announced his nomination in December, Cardona He recalled his childhood in subsidized housing by the Government in the city of Meriden (Connecticut), where his grandparents Avelino and Germana had moved from Aguada (Puerto Rico) in search of new opportunities .
Cardona’s parents, Héctor and Sara, “instilled in her early on the importance of hard work , service to the community and education, ”he recounted in his December speech.
Although he arrived at the Meriden public school without speaking a word of English, Cardona ended up becoming the first in his family to graduate from the university, and more tar of a “ teacher, school principal and deputy superintendent ” in the same city, where his two daughters study today.
“As American as rice with beans”
“Being bilingual and bicultural, I am as American as apple pie and rice with beans. And for me, education was what put me on the same level as the others “, Cardona assured in the same speech.
throughout his meteoric career, which made him a school principal at just 27 years old and a Connecticut Commissioner of Education at 43, Cardona has focused especially on the achievement gap between Latino and black students compared to those who are white or of Asian origins .
“For too many students, their zip code and their skin color are still the best predictors of the opportunities they will have throughout their life “, he lamented in the aforementioned speech.
According to Cardona, the United States has invested too much” money in interventions and plasters to face disparities “, when what it should do is” create a broad and strong base of universal and quality early education “, and improve” emotional and social supports es ”of the students.
Those who know him well assure that he does not think like a politician or an ideologue, and for that reason they believe him capable of spurring“ changes towards greater equality ”for the students of minorities “without alienating those who still do not understand” the need for that to happen, said one of his former colleagues, Robert Villanova, to the magazine “Education Week.”
The great challenge of reopening schools
His great challenge as soon as he took office will be to implement one of Biden’s great objectives in his first 45 days in power, the reopening of most schools for under 14 years , and at his confirmation hearing in February he already promised to do “everything possible” to achieve that goal “safely.”
That goal has met with resistance from teacher unions, but Cardona already has experience with the issue: as Connecticut Commissioner of Education, he had to e managing the same dilemma last year, when COVID – 14 hit the United States and the entire country switched to remote learning of overnight.
Cardona then realized that this system was failing many students, especially the poorest , since than some 140, 000 students across their state weren’t connecting to online classes.
“The inequalities have really surfaced. The impact of this will last for generations, “Cardona warned in an interview last year with the local newspaper CT Mirror.
Cardona then launched a successful campaign for women to schools were back to offering face-to-face classes , and it helped all but one of Connecticut’s districts adopt some form of in-person education by last fall, though some later closed again, according to Washington Post .
That perseverance will be key to carrying out Biden’s mission in a country where many teachers fear returning to the classroom, but the White House trusts Cardona’s educator soul.
By Lucía Leal