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.

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.

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.

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?"

What do you love to fulfill in life?

All paths eventually lead home.

Romantic love allows you to focus mating energy. Attachment sustains that relationship as long as necessary to raise your baby.

Weve become a plastic society.

Some imagine the difference between heaven and hell to be a matter of geography. Not so. The difference is much more evident in the individuals who dwell there.

I have had the privilege of losing everything.

We transform the world, but we don't remember it. We adjust our baseline to the new level, and we don't recall what was there.

The design is done when the problem goes away.

Words are the weak support of cold indifference; love has no language to be heard.