Confessions of a Headmaster

Book excerpt: “Both a memoir and manifesto for education reform . . . chronicles [Cummins’s] remarkable career as a teacher, headmaster, and school founder.” —Kirkus Reviews In this entertaining and inspiring memoir, renowned educator Paul Cummins candidly shares his journey from privileged kid and ivory-tower scholar to hands-on progressive educator, working to achieve social justice through education for all youth: from children of celebrities to foster and incarcerated youth and those facing sometimes unimaginable circumstantial hurdles to education and accomplishment—proving time and again that all children can succeed given appropriate support. Confessions of a Headmaster is “the story of the birth of the kind of open, enlightened, diverse education we all take for granted today, told in a warm and engaging way by the visionary in our midst who made it happen” (Victoria Shorr, cofounder of the Archer School for Girls and of the Pine Ridge Girls’ School). “The story of a man who brought the romance back into teaching at a time when the field of education is a field of constant national controversy, and our most popular books have titles with militarist references, such as The Teacher Wars.” —Mona Simpson, national bestselling author of Anywhere But Here “As Paul Cummins once remarked, ‘Passion without intelligence is of limited value’—and the inverse is also true—for who would want intelligence without passion? In Confessions, we see what can happen when these two qualities work in sync!” —John Densmore, drummer for the Doors