My parents regarded school teachers as higher beings, as did many immigrants.

They wanted me to play more sports because they were acutely sensitive to their children being one hundred percent American, and they believed that all Americans played sports and loved sports.

A parent being called to the school because their child had misbehaved was as serious as a parent being called to the police station because their child had robbed a bank.

About 1900 my parents came to the United States as children from what was then the Polish area of Russia.

Experimental science is a craft and an art, and part of the art is knowing when to end a fruitless experiment. There is a danger of becoming obsessed with a fruitless experiment even if it goes nowhere.

Going to school and working for good marks, indeed working for very good marks, was a serious business.

My parents were determined to move into the middle class.