Social psychology has found the more you reward people for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward.

When was the last time you spent the entire day with only 42 year olds?

Grades dilute the pleasure that a student experiences on successfully completing a task.

Educational success should be measured by how strong your desire is to keep learning.

Trying to be number one and trying to do a task well are two different things.

The difference between a good educator and a great educator is that the former figures out how to work within the constraints of traditional policies and accepted assumptions, whereas the latter figures out how to change whatever gets in the way of doing right by kids. 'But we've always...', 'But the parents will never...', 'But we can't be the only school in the area to...' - all such protestations are unpersuasive to great educators. If research and common sense argue for doing things differently, then the question isn't whether to change course but how to make it happen.

Trying to do well and trying to beat others are two different things. Excellence and victory are conceptually distinct . . . and are experienced differently.