In America our public schools are intended to be religiously neutral. Our teachers and schools are neither to endorse nor to inhibit religion. I believe this is a very good thing.
We don't need mandatory, non-sectarian prayers read over the loudspeaker to 'put God back in schools.' God never left the schools. God is still at work through the hundreds of thousands of gifted teachers and administrators, committed parents, and passionate volunteers who seek to help give our children 'a future with hope.'
Mentorship plays such an important role in business - we know it's a must - and I believe schools should embrace it in a much fuller way.
I would hope that the staffs at juvenile detention centers and reform schools are carefully chosen so that there is a community of support and hope.
We must recover the element of quality in our traditional pursuit of equality. We must not, in opening our schools to everyone, confuse the idea that all should have equal chance with the notion that all have equal endowments.
My father was a great connoisseur of music and arts. He said, 'I will encourage you in anything you do, but make sure you get a solid education.' So, I studied in the finest schools and went on to become a qualified barrister but didn't take up law because my music was my area of interest.
Hoping to instill my love of learning in other children, I taught my first class at a local elementary school the year my first book, 'Flying Fingers,' debuted; since then, I have spoken at hundreds of schools, classrooms and conferences around the world.
The idea there were kids out there who didn't love to read and write just as much as I did struck me. So I went around schools and tried to make other kids love to read and write.
In many countries, schools are preparing students to participate in a democratic environment; yet schools themselves tend to be extremely autocratic, with all high-level decisions being made by adults.
Gurls Talk is my baby. It's just about opening up a space within schools where we as women and girls can talk about whatever we want.
