Now things have changed for the better. Our reforms end seniority and tenure so we can hire and fire based on merit and pay based on performance. That means we can put the best and the brightest in our classrooms - and we can keep them there.
The unions say 'last hired - first fired,', we say hire and fire based on merit. We want the best and brightest in the classroom.
You are part of that horrid expression, the best and the brightest. It can be a terrible burden if you let it be, but it is the great challenge of your time. And being a warrior in that challenge should be wondrous.
People who are exceptionally intelligent are often lonely because there are few people as intelligent as them. I have two little children, and everyone says: 'I hope they're doing well in school. I hope they're bright.' And I think: 'Why would anyone want their children to be the brightest?' Academia is a lonely world.
The brightest flashes in the world of thought are incomplete until they have been proven to have their counterparts in the world of fact.
If you're not the brightest or if you're not great at sports, or if you're not artistic, then you've got to find a way to make your mark; otherwise you're just this tiny little insignificant dot. I didn't want to be insignificant, so I made people laugh.
In my school, the brightest boys did math and physics, the less bright did physics and chemistry, and the least bright did biology. I wanted to do math and physics, but my father made me do chemistry because he thought there would be no jobs for mathematicians.
I believe we need to attract a new generation of the best and brightest to public service and I believe that government can be a source of inspiration, not degradation.
I think New York audiences are some of the brightest in the world, and certainly the most enthusiastic.
I look in the mirror, and I work with the brightest person I know.