“When my children were in junior high, students who maintained a 4.0 average all year were rewarded at the end of the year with a ‘4.0 pizza party’: they got out of one hour of class to go outside and eat a slice of pizza and drink a can of soda….No parades, no full-color photos in the newspaper, no mention on the local newscast that evening–all rewards routinely given to successful student-athletes. Just a slice of tepid pizza and a can of pop.”

On a college football player whose teammates derided him for loving poetry:

“He would glare at them and mutter obscenities as he lumbered up to drop yet another unrequired essay on my desk, and they would howl and guffaw and slap their desks at this poor fool who was studying poetry as if it actually mattered. At six foot five and 285 pounds, this student was a mountain of a man. But under the relentless teasing of his teammates, he would hunch down and pull in, trying to shrink and disappear to escape their notice.” Tina Blue —It’s Stupid to Be Smart (Teacher, Teacher)