A Culture In Which Guilt

I Always Want To Tell These Young Idealists That The World Is Not As Dangerous As Many In The Older Generation Want Them To Believe...the [people] For Whom I Feel The Greatest Sadness Are The Ones Who Choke On Their Beliefs, Who Never Act On Their Ideals, Who Never Know The State Of Struggle In A Decent Cause, And Never Know The Thrill Of Even Partial Victories.

You Have To Remember. . .that For This Little Boy Whom You Have Met, His Life Is Just As Important To Him, As Your Life Is To You. No Matter How Insufficient Or How Shabby It May Seem To Some, It Is The Only One He Has.

I Have Been Criticized Throughout The Course Of My Career For Placing Too Much Faith In The Reliability Of Children's Narratives; But I Have Almost Always Found That Children Are A Great Deal More Reliable In Telling Us What Actually Goes On In Public School Than Many Of The Adult Experts Who Develop Policies That Shape Their Destinies.

Hypersegregated Inner-city Schools - In Which One Finds No More Than Five Or Ten White Children, At The Very Most, Within A Student Population Of As Many As 3,000 - Are The Norm, Not The Exception, In Most Northern Urban Areas Today.

I Feel, In The End, As If Everything I've Done Has Been A Failure.