A word from James Tooley

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to the development of an unhealthy state of things. If it is heeded in time, danger may be averted; if it is suppressed, a fatal distemper may develop." ― Winston Churchill 

"I believe [America] is stuck in the dark ages of educational provision - because  governments set in stone what was on offer when they took over a century or more ago. ...  [T]here's room for improvement for all [American schools]. But perhaps their faults are fundamental, affecting all they try to do, as I shall try to explain." ― James Tooley, Really Good Schools

Thanks, Dr. Tooley ... we needed that.

Those of us who attended his April 2023 talks at Friends University in Wichita KS are glad to have had the rare opportunity to hear from Dr. James Tooley and learn more about his global experiences across continents and over decades with high-caliber, low-cost education ... and with low-caliber, high-cost education. The success and failure stories he related encouraged and admonished us all. 

But he left us with an important question ...

Can the successes be replicated and the failures eliminated in the West ... in America ... in Wichita?

We have asked Dr. Tooley to give us a short answer and some guidance in answering this important question. We feel it is an appropriate way to initiate this blog. So without further delay ... here are his thoughts with which we will launch this RGSFE blog site.

Becky Elder, belder@northfieldschool.com

Dr. Tooley's Response

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