I graduated from Bowdoin College and went to the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Then I left and took a job teaching really poor inner-city white kids in Boston. It was interesting to me because I'd never been around poor whites before.

I want to be a children’s hero… Children need heroes because heroes give hope; without hope they have no future.

Many schools today are sacrificing social studies, the arts and physical education so children can cover basic subjects like math, English and science.

Why is it that when we had rotary phones, when we were having folks being crippled by polio, that we were teaching the same way then that we're doing right now?

You have to be prepared to think outside the box...Stand back and think about what we could do creativity. We've got to do that to push the field forward.

Build an organization that can tackle the tough things and keep moving.

I graduated from Bowdoin College and went to the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Then I left and took a job teaching really poor inner-city white kids in Boston. It was interesting to me because I'd never been around poor whites before.