- “Unfortunately, sometimes parents feign unconditional love to make up for the fact that they are not willing to give their children the valuable time needed to properly parent. They are not willing, or able, to work with their child, to listen to their child, to talk to their child, or really get to know their child. These parents are simply too busy to properly parent and appropriately support their children. Literature refers to these parents as ‘free-range parents.’ Then let’s turn to what has been termed the hovering parent or ‘helicopter’ parent. The helicopter parent is that parent who is over-involved in his/her children’s lives. They interfere in all decision-making and take pride in the parental guidance they provide. They have their children in every possible after-school activity and sport. They miss work to come to school to be there for their child. They also come to defend their child when their child has done something wrong. They are their child’s best advocate and willingly share the many sacrifices they have made in the name of parenthood. All of this is wonderful and absolute, but is it healthy?” ~ Rob Furman, principal, South Park Elementary
- “These are really tough economic times, but I’ve been very public that we need to move from print to digital as fast as we can.” ~ Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education
- “Recent scholarship on childhood and adolescence has linked a proclivity to violence with rampant consumerism, video games, computers, social media, and the contradictory messages American popular culture sends young people.” ~ Christopher L. Doyle, award-winning teacher, Wilkinson School
- “Ernest Hemingway once wrote, ‘All American literature comes from . . . Huckleberry Finn . . . There has been nothing as good since.’ Sadly, students in Massachusetts and across most of the country may soon have to see out Huckleberry Finn on their own because it isn’t in the national K-12 education [Common Core] standards that have been adopted by 46 states and the District of Columbia.” ~ Jocelyn Chadwick, Twain scholar
- “For the United States, the leading space-faring nation for nearly half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second- or even third-rate stature. While the president’s [Obama] plan envisages humans traveling away from Earth and perhaps towards Mars at some time in the future, the lack of developed rockets and spacecraft will assure that ability will not be available for many years. Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the U.S. is far too likely to be on the long downhill slide to mediocrity. America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space. If it does, we should institute a program which will give us the very best chance of achieving that goal.” ~ Neil Armstrong, former astronaut