“To be a teacher is to have a great responsibility.  The teacher helps shape and give direction to the lives of other human beings.  What is more important, graver, than that?  Children and young people are our greatest treasure; when we think of them we think of the future of the world.  Then consider the significance of nurturing their minds, of helping form their outlook on the world, of training and preparing them for the work that they will do.  I can think of no profession more important than that of teaching.”
                        Pablo Casals from JOYS AND SORROWS REFLECTIONS BY PABLO CASALS 1970

“ You have no right to have a preconceived notion of who your students should be……you take the students that you are given and it is your job as their teacher to work with them”
                John LaPorta to a group of young beginning teachers at the Berklee College of Music, late 1970s