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Joel Klein Highlight
It's very hard to get up day in and day out and not be excited about what you're doing; so, I guess because of that, I've been willing to take some strange curves and detours in the road.
About Joel
- Says he went "from public housing to the West Wing in the White House."
- If it wasn't for his education, his poor childhood in Queens could've steered him in a vastly different direction.
- As a child, his father would take him to watch public trials; he was exhilarated by the snappy cross-examinations.
- When he was 13, he heard John F. Kennedy's famous, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" speech.
- That speech inspired his life's practices, influenced his decision to go to law school.
- After law school, he was a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell.
- From there, he joined the Clinton Administration, working in the Department of Justice; infamously prosecuted "Goliath," aka Microsoft.
- Made the switch from law to education because he feels overhauling the system is the fight he's been training for all his life.
