It Is A Commonplace By Now To

Young Children Give Us Glimpses Of Some Things That Are Eternal.

Good Teachers Don't Approach A Child Of This Age With Overzealousness Or With Destructive Conscientiousness. They're Not Drill-masters In The Military Or Floor Managers In A Production System. They Are Specialists In Opening Small Packages. They Give The String A Tug But Do It Carefully. They Don't Yet Know What's In The Box. They Don't Know If It's Breakable.

I Am Opposed To The Use Of Public Funds For Private Education.

The First Ten, Twelve Or Fifteen Years Of Life Are Excavated Of Inherent Moral Worth In Order To Accommodate A Regimen Of Basic Training For The Adult Years That Many Of The Poorest Children May Not Even Live To Know.

The Future Teachers I Try To Recruit Are Those Show Have Refused To Let Themselves Be Neutered In This Way, Either In Their Private Lives Or In The Lives That They Intend To Lead In School. When They Begin To Teach, They Come Into Their Classrooms With A Sense Of Affirmation Of The Goodness And The Fullness Of Existence, With A Sense Of Satisfaction In Discovering The Unexpected In Their Students, And With A Longing To Surprise The World, Their Kids, Even Themselves, With Their Capacity To Leave Each Place They've Been ... A Better And More Joyful Place Than It Was When They Entered It.