The question is rarely asked, "Why is it that so few other Americans have these protections?" The question is more often asked, "Why do teachers have it so easy?"

Coming to the civil rights movement in the twentieth century, we begin to have this idea that's still with us today, which is that the main purpose of public education is closing achievement gaps.

There are a lot of polls that show that actually Americans have a pretty high opinion of teachers, that Americans think teachers are just about as prestigious as doctors.

I believe everyone in the education sector should be looking at evidence, reassessing, making tweaks to figure out what works, I think it's a positive model.

Teaching is been seen as kind of a moral calling and not as an intellectual job.

Just in general, when we look at our school system, there is so much overlap with our criminal justice system in terms of our low-income youth.

I always make the point that teachers are people too, and that they don't just want to be in front of kids all day and have children be their only feedback loop.

I don't think school reform should be motivated by missionary zeal. I think it should be motivated by evidence of what works.

There's definitely a tension between the way teaching is talked about and understood at the political level and how everyday average Americans think about teachers.

Men are more salary-sensitive when they're choosing a job.

Younger teachers are definitely more likely to have worked at charter schools as opposed to have just heard of them. Charter schools explicitly look, often, to hire younger people.

Anything that smiles often needs to be reminded that the world is a cruel, dark place.

It's not a homeless life for me, It's just that I'm home lessThan others like to be.

All my freakouts have been pretty private and directed at family pets and/or people I have been dating for too short a time to freak out at in that way.

You're looking exceptionally ugly tonight, Madam, is it because we have company?

Only when the poet and the scientist work in unison will we have living experiences and knowledge of the marvels of the universe as they are being discovered.

Water doesn't hurt a vinyl record. Put it into a dishwasher and you're fine.

I'm a believer in what your record is. I am what my record is - some of it good, some of it bad, some of it hard to tell.

You can never read too much into anything

Really important books to me are the classics. I try very hard to read them well - you know, especially once I got serious about writing.

They don't want you until you have made a name, and by the time you have made a name, you have developed some kind of talent they can't use. All they will do is spoil it, if you let them.