In some suburban schools, the curriculum is chock-full of rigorous A.P. courses and the parking lot glitters with pricey SUVs, but one doesn't have to look hard to find students who are starving themselves, cutting themselves, or medicating themselves, as well students who are taking out their frustrations on those who sit lower on the social food chain.

Do rewards motivate people? Absolutely. They motivate people to get rewards.

When we do things that are controlling, whether intentional or not, we are not going to get those long-term outcomes.

Saying you taught it but the student didn't learn it is like saying you sold it but the customer didn't buy it.

If I offered you a thousand dollars to take off your shoes, you'd very likely accept--and then I could triumphantly announce that 'rewards work.' But as with punishments, they can never help someone develop a *commitment* to a task or action, a reason to keep doing it when there's no longer a payoff.

We have so much to cover and so little time to cover it. Howard Gardner refers to curriculum coverage as the single greatest enemy of understanding. Think instead about ideas to be discovered.

If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.