On the record with potential Post pundit Conor Williams

On Wednesday evening, Georgetown PhD candidate Conor Williams (GOV ’11) discussed his entry to the Washington Post’s “America’s Next Great Pundit” essay competition with the Voice. At the time of  publication, Williams’ essay about the impact of the D.C. mayoral election on education reform, “Real Education Reform,” was in fifth place. Interview conducted and transcribed by Emma Forster.

Hi, how are you?

A little nervous! The gap’s closed quite a bit in the last 24 hours. I was in first place for quite a while, but as of about midday today I’ve been holding onto fifth by the skin of my teeth.

So why do you think that you should win the contest? What do you think sets your piece apart from the other people who wrote about education reform?

Well, for one, of all the pieces in the competition about education reform, I’m the only actual current teacher. I did Teach for America for two years, I taught in inner-city schools in Brooklyn, New York. … I think that personal experience, that practical experience, is really what I can offer that really no other candidate can.

I also spend a lot of time writing and thinking about progressivism . … I probably fall somewhere on the spectrum between moderate and progressive. Although again, being anti-teachers’ unions makes that problematic as well.

I’m also very concerned and very interested in environmental issues. I spend a lot of time thinking about global warming and I’m working on a piece about American oil dependency and the energy crisis, particularly in the context of the oil spill in the Gulf. So I’m somewhere left of center, but I don’t think I’m very far left of center.

Are you interested in being a journalist, or was this contest a one-time thing?

Being in graduate school, I’m writing my dissertation right now. My proposal is currently in the works. … So on the one hand I’d really like to pursue a career in academia. The students I’ve had at Georgetown have been fantastic, the sections that I have right now are amongst the best students that I’ve ever had and there’s a lot of things in a personal aspect that appeal to me.

But at the same time, I wrote a piece for Dissent Magazine … and 8,000 people read it within about a week. There are very few academics professors out there who write something that gets that kind of attention. I certainly wouldn’t close the door to journalism. I also wouldn’t close the door to working in policy or D.C. think tanks.

So how did you find out about this competition?

I’m an avid reader of the Post. I’m also a former teaching assistant [for Post columnist] E.J. Dionne. That’s pretty much where I got [the idea] from. I sort of thought my piece was good enough to get me into the top 50, but I didn’t really think it would be anywhere near the running. But there it is!

What is your plan if you win the contest?

I hate to be trite about this, but on Monday I saw Waiting for Superman [and] I got really emotional, really choked up and passionate about what I had been doing when I was a teacher. … Whether I go back into the classroom ever to teach for the state again or not, I’m going to make education reform the absolute prime point of what I do. Whether it’s in journalism or academics, that’s something I want to make the most important.

If  I don’t win? You know, hey, I’ve got a couple of pieces—including another for Dissent Magazine, which will be going up in the next week or two—and I’m just going to continue to write things that are pertinent, that are provocative, and that are interesting to people.