Long before Dan negotiated one-on-one with Roger Fisher , in front of 160 lawyers at the Harvard Law School, in 1998,

Long before his time as CEO, reviving the cancer immunotherapy/medical device company, CytoLogic,

Long before negotiating multi-million dollar deals for Amersham (now GE HealthCare Life Sciences)

Dan flunked out of College twice.

Dan’s professor, a teacher , Paul Lacey , rescued him, and changed Dan’s life.

That’s what teachers do.

* * * * *

From his wife, Harriet Sanford, CEO of the NEA Foundation, Dan has gotten a rich education – about education.

About how Finland really, really values its teachers , and shows it by paying them well and holding them in such high esteem, that there are 10 applicants for every job opening.

And in Finland, educational competition isn’t rampant, testing is slight, teachers aren’t scored by an impersonal number-crunching algorithm, - and yet – somehow, Finland’s schools are usually ranked as the best in the world.

From Dan’s Grandfather, Arthur E. Morgan, early President of Antioch College, and one of the giants in experiential / co-op learning, Dan learned the value of mixing Practicum with Theory.

Dan’s father, Landrum, President of Earlham, was an early pioneer in developing Global Competency through Study Abroad programs at colleges throughout the Midwest.

In Congress, Dan will vigorously champion raising the stature of teachers, and increasing opportunities for co-op learning, and diversity in all regards.

And Dan is mindful that governmental Housing Policy, is also, in effect, Educational Policy, because of the PROFOUND positive effects of promoting economic diversity in neighborhoods, and in neighborhood schools, on ALL the children impacted.

Improving education may not bring Heaven on Earth, but it’ll move us a lot closer.