People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

—Theodore Roosevelt

I dare you to . . .

Buck the System. I chair the nonprofit Center for College & Career Readiness, working with hundreds of districts and thousands of schools across America and around the world. Every day, my team and I hear tales of these teachers—committed and caring professionals who buck the system to save a child. These brave souls often work against the systems that employ them in order to do their jobs—to meet the needs of real kids, in real classrooms.

Bridge the Gap. The Education Machine can see only a few “standard models,” but great teachers care for the kids as if they were their own family members. The Education Machine believes scientific application of generic teaching principals will “engage” students to “learn rigorous content.” You and I know that all of us are motivated by our imaginations, interests, and passions. Learning is human. The modern Education Machine is not. And we must bridge that gap—now!

This book raises a clarion call to a revolution of the heart and mind. Furthermore, Rex Miller and his intrepid team of educators, parents, and experts provide a vision of education with real children at its heart.

Embrace a New World. Grounded in the real trials and success stories of teachers and kids from around the country, Miller and his colleagues challenge us to set aside notions from the obsolete world of the textbook. In their place they call us to embrace a new world—a new culture—of dynamic learning and collaborative investigation. Miller shines a light on those educators who are challenging the system and lifting up the imaginations and passions of children—kids who live in a world of endless possibility constrained by schools with mindless rules and never-ending assessments.

Turn Insight into Action. Researchers collapse human experience into statistics and findings. But we do not need another research project as much as we need to act! We must—as human beings—do something to equip and empower our kids and the teachers who care about their dreams, their fears, and their futures.

Use This Map. We all need—and you now hold—a map that will lead you from the Industrial Age model of education to a culture of creative collaboration. More importantly, that map will get you and many others to the place where we can all join in uplifting the hearts and minds of teachers and students.

That is why, upon its publication, Humanizing the Education Machine will become required reading in my graduate courses for school leaders.

—Kevin E. Baird,
chairman and national supervising faculty,
the nonprofit Center for College & Career Readiness