Quotes

Seymour B. Sarason
And What Do You Mean by Learning?
(Heinemann, 2004)
Chapter 11 What Is Missing in a Voucher Policy?
p. 183 (sdg quoted 2010.02.22):

"(One of the arguments for charter schools was that they would be a spur for public schools to compete and change. It has not happened and will not happen.) There is nothing in Professor Friedman's writing that says anything about the substance, quality, and purposes of the product to be sold."

John Amos Comenius
The Great Didactic
(Kessinger Publishing's Rare Reprints, 2008)
First written in Czech perhaps about 1627
First published in Latin translation in
J. A. Comenii Opera Didactica Omnia, ab anno 1627 ad 1657 continuata Amsterdam, 1657
translated to English and interpreted by M. W. Keatinge, M.A.
First Edition signed by Keatinge in 1896 in The Edinburgh Academy
Second Edition signed by Keatinge in 1910 in Oxford
Subtitle
p. 3 (sdg quoted 2010.03.27):

"Setting forth The whole Art of Teaching all Things to all Men
or
A certain Inducement to Found such Schools in all the Parishes, Towns, and Villages of every Christian Kingdom, that the entire Youth of both Sexes, none being excepted, shall
Quickly, Pleasantly, and Thoroughly
Become learned in the Sciences, pure in Morals, trained to Piety, and in this manner instructed in all things necessary for the present and for the future life,
in which, with respect to everything that is suggested,
Its Fundamental Principles are set forth from the essential nature of the matter,
Its Truth is proved by examples from the several mechanical arts,
Its Order is clearly set forth in years, months, days, and hours,
and, finally,
An Easy and Sure Method is shown, by which it can be pleasantly brought into existence."

Peter F. Drucker
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
(Harper Business, 1993) paperback
(P. F. Drucker copyright 1985)
Chapter 9 Source: New Knowledge
Section The characteristics of knowledge-based innovation
pp. 110 (sdg quoted here 2010.03.27, kgw identified the quote earlier):

"Perhaps the time has come for an etrepreneur to start schools based on what we know about learning, rather than on the old wives' tales about it that have been handed down through the ages."

Peter F. Drucker
Post-Capitalist Society
(Harper Business, 1993) hardcover
Chapter 11 The Accountable School
Section How the Japanese did it
pp. 197-198 (sdg quoted 2010.02.23):

"These specifications call for a school as different from the one that exists now as the 'modern' school for which Comenius drew up the specifications three hundred and fifty years ago differed from the school that existed before the printed book.
Here are the new specifications:

Dan C. Lortie
Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study
With a new preface
(University of Chicago Press, 2002)
Chapter 8 Sentiments and Interpersonal Preferences
Section The Normative Appropriation of Resources
p. 202 (sdg quoted 2010.02.25):

"Analogies spring to mind. One thinks of the entrepreneur who resents government interference, while pressing government to hold down the costs of production. One is reminded of the established craftsman who insists on his right to arrange space and tools and fashion his product as he wishes. Or we can visualize the professional asserting his full independence and expecting others to accept the consequences. But the analogies break down at a crucial point; teachers, unlike freewheeling business-men, established craftsmen, and professionals, cannot escape a painful reality. They own no means of production and have no formal rights to support their preferences; they are employees in a formal organization and hirelings paid out of community tax funds."

Section The Sentiments and the Ethos
Subsection Conservatism and the Sentiments
p. 209 (sdg quoted 2010.02.28):

"What teachers consider desirable change can be summed up as 'more of the same'; they believe the best program of improvement removes obstacles and provides for more teaching with better support."

Subsection Presentism and Sentiments
p. 212 (sdg quoted 2010.02.28):

"Teachers who work in isolation cannot create an empirically grounded, semantically potent common language; unless they develop terms to indicate specific events, discussion will lack the clarity it needs to enlighten practice."

Chapter 9 Speculations on Change
Subsection Teachers and Technical Knowledge
p. 240 (sdg quoted 2010.03.13):

"Teachers will have to find ways to bring expertise to bear on questions of 'accountability'. The condition of teaching knowledge will affect their chances of weathering centralization without losing valued working conditions. Teachers face a sharp problem: How are they to overcome the record of intellectual dependency and adapt to changing needs? What steps might they take to prepare for independence in a future filled with controversy?"

p. 242 (sdg quoted 2010.03.13):

"Demonstration projects could offset the seeming utopianism of proposing that teachers could engage in direct efforts to improve the technical knowledge of the occupation."

p. 243 (sdg quoted 2010.03.13):

"(I learned in Dade County that a surprisingly high proportion of teachers thought they would enjoy classroom-related research.[7])"

[7] (p. 268) "In Response to question 40 (App. B-2), 67 percent of Dade teachers chose either 'I would definitely be enthusiastic about doing some research' (26.7 percent) or 'I might well be interested in participating' (40.3 percent)."

Appendix B-2, Question 40 (p. 257):
"Let's suppose there were effective arrangements in the Dade County schools for following up on research ideas you might develop. What do you think your reaction would be to such arrangements?
1 I might definitely be enthusiastic about doing some research
2 I might well be interested in participating
3 I might or might not be participating
4 I probably would not be interested in participating
5 I would definitely be uninterested in doing research
(sdg comment: Table 3 on p. 105 mentions interviewing over 5800 teachers.)

J. Collins, J. I. Porras
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
(HarperBusiness, 2004)
Chapter 11 Building the Vision , after Harvard Business Review, September/October 1996
Section Putting It All Together
p. 239 (sdg quoted 2010.04.06):

"Keep in mind that there is a big difference between being an organization with a vision statement and becoming a truly visionary organization. When you have superb alignment, a visitor could drop into your organization from another planet and infer the vision without having to read it on paper. This is the primary work of the clock builder."