Teaching children to read was one thing; keeping them interested in reading was something else.

An error means a child needs help, not a reprimand or ridicule for doing something wrong.

Parents often brag about the amount of money spent per child, but I think, perhaps ironically, those great monies that are spent - I call it putting a band-aid on a hemorrhage.

I cannot change the world, but I do not have to conform.

Education is the thing. This black-white bit - I don't deal with people that way. I deal with it as if you are another individual. If you do something that perturbs me or aggravates me, I do not think you've done it because I'm black.

One of the things that even wealthy children need is an education, and I think the problems I saw really have nothing to do with economics. So I was unhappy with what my own children were getting even in the better schools, and then I was seeing so many children here recruited for failure.

What all good teachers have in common, however, is that they set high standards for their students and do not settle for anything less.