When nearly a third of our high school students do not graduate on time with their peers we have work to do. We must design our middle and high schools so that no student gets lost in the crowd and disconnected from his or her own potential.
High expectations weren't nurtured in my neck of nowhere back then - children weren't fawned over from an early age as 'gifted' and groomed for a prizewinning future self-esteem was considered something you had to pick from the garden yourself.
