miss laurie ayden and jerald lynn, all of whom i met at different times and in different ways. since writing this book was a journey for me i wanted to talk about some what i learn over the course of reporting and writing it. apart from the fact i would make a terrible teacher. the first is that i feel like the extremists and absolutists on both sides of the'm conversation over school reform and other issues dominate the debate, but their voices don't really capture the need or desire of those attending and working in the schools, and i had covered education for long enough when i started working on the book to sense this to some degree. i was really amazed by the extent to which the aspirations and ideals of many families and frontline educators eluded the talking points of those who had the soap box on this issue, and i got frustrated about this and even ang fry at times -- angry at times. i remember having a conversation with a friend who was getting his doctorate in political science and he made the point that at some point an extreme backlash is needed to nudge policy or p