By Kathleen Nugent, DFER New Jersey State Director
Recently, I was in a meeting with a colleague from the public sector and the subject of education advocacy organizations came up — in reference to those groups working nationwide as well as those already in or slated to come to New Jersey. Before the discussion even started, my colleague stopped and rolling his eyes said, “Oh that’s right…I’ve heard you advocacy people don’t play nice in the sandbox together.” This surprised me, as I hadn’t realized education advocates had a reputation of not working well together. My colleague, however, assured me that this was common knowledge.
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For advocates, if we can’t reign ourselves in, play nice, and be the best support to our legislators, it will be to the detriment of all we fight for.
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Why it’s hard to play nice: If you think about it, the ugly truth is there seem to be many reasons education advocates might not get along — all of which tend to involve resources. There is a limited donor pool interested in advocacy, a limited number of political leaders willing to take on the issues, a limited number of experts who can speak with authority to those issues, and a limited attention span of the public and media to compete for. Even more, it’s difficult to prove worth and earn credibility when so many factors play into the outcome of education policy and legislation.
Why it’s a no-brainer to play nice: What’s the phrase, “united we stand, divided we fall?” When working to change an institution and massive bureaucracy, clearly it takes a significant effort with strong momentum to succeed. It also takes a lot of smart people who bring a collection of voices with differing points of view working together. The end result is better policy and a base of support to see it through implementation.