Kathy Cox, Georgia Superintendent of Public Schools, is my hero.
Cox recently appeared on the television game show, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? She ended up being the show’s first $1,000,000 winner. Kathy Cox is not my hero because she won all that money. No, Kathy Cox is my hero because:
- She’s donating all that money to schools in her state. She didn’t know how much she’d win when she started, but she never waivered. As the cash total added up, she held fast to her pledge.
- She taught while she answered her 11 questions to win the cash. As she worked through to the answer to each question, Cox “thought aloud” and modeled the kind of thinking and reasoning skills she’d love to see the students in her state apply.
- At every step along the way to the big money, Cox had a choice to make. She could quit and take home the cash or she could press on. She kept saying, “I have to go for it.” You see, she’s been modeling that behavior to her students, too. She wants them to go for it. She wants teachers to go for it. She was true to her own philosophy.
- As she approached her decision as to whether or not to take on the final question, she was faced with a dilemma. If she “dropped out” she’d walk away with $500,000 to donate to her schools. If she went for it, she might lose and drop back to just $25,000. Under the pressure of that decision, it wasn’t pragmatism, fear or greed that drove her. She said, “I can’t drop out. I can’t even say those words. I tell the kids to stay in school, so I have to stay in school. I’m going for it!” Once again. Cox was true to her philosophy.
I don’t know much about Kathy Cox, but I do know that on the program she showed us that she is a woman of integrity. She took risks because the message she sent to her state’s students was far more important to her than cash or fame.
Bravo, Ms. Cox! you are my hero!
