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

Educators remind us that what counts in a classroom is not what the teacher teaches; it’s what the learner learns.

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

We learn most readily, most naturally, most effectively, when we start with the big picture - precisely when the basics don't come first.

The legendary statistical consultant W. Edwards Deming, . . . has called the system by which merit is appraised and rewarded 'the most powerful inhibitor to quality and productivity in the Western world' . . . it is simply unfair to the extent that employees are held responsible for what are, in reality, systemic factors that are beyond their control.

In short, with each of the thousand-and-one problems that present themselves in family life, our choice is between controlling and teaching, between creating an atmosphere of distrust and one of trust, between setting an example of power and helping children to learn responsibility, between quick-fix parenting and the kind that's focused on long-term goals.

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.