Friday, Dec. 2, 2022 | 2 a.m.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
I first visited Haiti in 2013, when I was the U.S. secretary of education. I had never been there and, honestly, knew little about the country. But the visit had a lasting impact on me. Yes, I saw the poverty and the tremendous difficulties of daily life. What struck me most, though, weren’t the challenges, but the opportunities.
In the United States, there is often debate about appropriate class sizes. In Haiti, I visited school classrooms where there were 100-120 children, and the rooms were small. Rows of children packed together on small benches, and you could still hear a pin drop. There was a hunger for knowledge, a desire to learn, that was as palpable as it was powerful. I visited a school that ran a second shift of classes, an afternoon session for children who lived on the streets. That school didn’t just educate, it fed children possibly their only meal of the day, cut their hair and created a true sense of hope.
Because that trip had such a profound impact, I have returned annually to Haiti for years, now as a private citizen, to visit schools, conduct basketball clinics and meet with college students and young leaders. The depth of their collective work ethic, intellectual curiosity and commitment to building positive futures are beyond inspiring.
Haiti’s descent into government illegitimacy, chaos, violence and gang control of the streets is incredibly painful to see. In a country that has seen way too many man-made and natural disasters, virtually everyone I speak with says this is the most difficult, and dangerous, time they can remember. One of the most damaging — and largely underreported — consequences of the loss of safety is that the vast majority of children have been unable to return to school this year.
Unless security is restored in the next week or two, children may not be able to return to school until the new year at the earliest. That loss of the opportunity to learn — in a country where half the population lives on $3 a day or less, is devastating. Haiti’s most precious resource is also its greatest natural resource — its children. If they are educated properly, they will be the leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs who lead their families and their country to thrive amid mutual prosperity. And, if they are deprived of that opportunity, nothing good can happen.
Haiti’s challenges have often been exacerbated by the bad judgment and policy missteps of the United States and the broader international community. But, that ugly history doesn’t justify us walking away from a problem we helped create. Now more than ever, we must listen to the leaders of Haitian civil society who are fighting to restore democracy, understand and support their efforts to restore safety and security, and give Haiti’s children a chance to return to school as soon as possible.
They deserve no less.
Arne Duncan is a former U.S. secretary of education and former CEO of the Chicago public school system. He is a partner at Emerson Collective and co-chair of the Knight Commission in Intercollegiate Athletics. He wrote this for the Miami Herald.
