heights expeditionary learning schools, or wheels. last week he and his classmates put on their shirts, unfurled a banner and marched through washington heights in front of cheering crowds. you would have thought it was macy s parade. but the crowds were parents and teachers, the flags were college pennants. the march was to the post office where they mailed in their college applications. [ applause ] and he just heard back, the son of a factory worker who didn t speak much english just six years ago won a competitive scholarship to attend dickinson college this fall. [ applause ] everywhere you go you ve got
fault if we can t teach them how to read or do math or anything. and you say the teachers have to buy into the mission. uh-huh. when a teacher comes to you and asks you what is your mission? what do you tell them in a sentence? well, first, if anyone knows our interview process, any teacher who has been through our interview process is about a four to six hour maybe two-day process. and we go in on them and say, look, you re coming into an environment where you have to work. if you don t want to work, you can t work here. there are no excuses at our school. no excuses. no excuses. just deal with it. just deal with it. one of the other great things when you walk into the school that hits you right away. there are college pennants. so the idea of college is planted in these kids from the moment they walk in. it s kindergarten. college as you say, it s not an option, it s what you re doing