I think what we've done is given children a lot of things that they didn't ask for instead of what they do want.

When someone is taught the joy of learning, it becomes a life-long process that never stops, a process that creates a logical individual. That is the challenge and joy of teaching.

When our students fail, we, as teachers, too, have failed.

I believe the more difficult a child is, the more I want that child. But I won't take a child until the parent brings him to us. So it is just the opposite - we get the ones that no one else will take. We get sawdust, and we have to make boards out of it.

I'm not one of those who say this is the way. I'm not that opinionated. I can only say this is my way. Even the $1,000 scholarship that my son could have gotten from the state of Illinois to go to college, we didn't want. I'd rather get out and work and have my children know that their money comes from their parents and we have to work for it.

Character is what you know you are, not what others think you have.

Kids don't fail. Teachers fail, school systems fail. The people who teach children that they are failures, they are the problem.