Children Are Not Simply Commodities To Be

By Far The Most Important Factor In The Success Or Failure Of Any School, Far More Important Than Tests Or Standards Or Business-model Methods Of Accountability, Is Simply Attracting The Best-educated, Most Exciting Young People Into Urban Schools And Keeping Them There.

The Answers I Remember Longest Are The Ones That Answer Questions That I Didn't Think Of Asking.

The Rich...should Beg The Poor To Forgive Us For The Bread We Bring Them. Healthy People Sometimes Feel They Need To Beg Forgiveness Too, Although There Is No Reason Why. Maybe We Simply Ask Forgiveness For Not Being Born Where These Poor Women Have Been Born, Knowing That If We Lived Here Too, Our Fate Might Well Have Been The Same.

When I Was Young, I Was Religious.

In The Book, I Write About Children In First Grade Who Were Taught To Read By Reading Want Ads. They Learned To Write By Writing Job Applications. Imagine What Would Happen If Anyone Tried To Do That To Children In A Predominantly White Suburban School.