Rather, grandson seek boost to schools
Family offers prize for ideas to improve Texas education
When he was growing up, Martin Rather often heard about the high-quality education his grandfather, journalist Dan Rather, received in Houston public schools in the 1940s. Martin Rather, who will be a freshman at Rice University in the fall, grew concerned when he saw statistics indicating that Texas now ranks low on various measures of public school quality.
It seemed wrong, for example, that a state with such abundant resources should rank 39th and earn a C-minus on a report card published by Education Week. Perhaps some new ideas were needed.
On Monday, Martin Rather is officially launching the Rather Prize, which will award $10,000 to the person who comes up with the best idea to innovate Texas education. The contest is open to students, teachers or administrators involved with Texas education — public or private, parochial, charter or home schools.
“We want the best ideas from people who are living Texas public education,” Martin Rather said.
The Rather Prize is being offered in partnership with Rice’s Center for Civic Leadership, Austin-based nonprofit Green-
lights and South by Southwest.
The initiative began with a conversation several months ago between Martin Rather and his grandfather about the elder Rather growing up in Texas.
“I never saw the inside of anything other than a Texas public school,” said Dan Rather, 83, who attended Love Elementary School, Alexander Hamilton Middle School and Reagan High School before enrolling in what was then Sam Houston State Teachers College, now known as Texas State University.
Advisory board
During the contest submission process, volunteers from the Center for Civic Leadership will have a say in which ideas will go to an advisory board consisting of various dignitaries across the state, which no Rather family member serves on, Martin Rather explained.
From there, up to 10 finalists will have their ideas highlighted on The Rather Prize’s website. A winner will be named based on a combination of the initial score the Center for Civic Leadership and its Rice volunteers will give, how social media and the community engage with the idea and a recommendation from the advisory board. The winner will receive an all-expense-paid trip to present the idea at South by Southwest in Austin. Afterwards, the Center for Civic Leadership will have a team including undergraduates look at how to implement the idea.
The $10,000 prize money will come from the Rather family foundation. The money can be used for any educational purpose, such as a college scholarship or a teacher paying off student loan debt.
“We’re novices at this; this is something new for us,” Dan Rather said, referring to the prize. “And this being our first year, I recognize that we may make some mistakes — I hope no major mistakes — but I hope this is the beginning of something that will go on through the years.”
Martin Rather emphasized that he and his grandfather are not only interested in what is going wrong in Texas education — they are interested in successes as well.
“Both of us firmly believe that there is a lot of hope and a lot of potential for education in Texas,” Martin Rather said.
Not from, but of Texas
Although Martin Rather grew up in New York — his grandfather said he was born there only because
they could not get his mother to Texas fast enough to “beat the birth” — he has visited the state often.
“While I’m not from Texas, I feel like I’m of Texas,” Martin Rather said.
The elder Rather is grateful that he and Martin are in a position to give time and money to this initiative.
“I have felt, since the moment it was clear to me that we were actually going to launch this, a combination of humility, excitement and gratitude,” Rather said.