It's the curiosity that drives me. It's making a difference in the world that prevents me from ever giving up.

Only secretly rebellious teachers have ever done right by our least advantaged kids.

I take enormous pleasure every time I see something that I've done that cannot be wiped out. In some way ... I guess it's a protest against mortality. But it's been so much fun! It's the curiosity that drives me. It's making a difference in the world that prevents me from ever giving up.

There's a radical - and wonderful - new idea here... that all children could and should be inventors of their own theories, critics of other people's ideas, analyzers of evidence, and makers of their own personal marks on the world. Its an idea with revolutionary implications. If we take it seriously.

The only thing they [government] want is better data. But data doesn't tell people someone is well educated. It's a vicious circle. There is some myth involved. Some of this attitude has a long history.

A passion for learning...isn't something you have to inspire with; it's something you have to keep from extinguishing.

If you define yourself as someone fixing education, there's nothing short-range you can do to fix education directly. It's labor intensive. You have to change the way people act. You have to convince people, and change people.