Pedro Noguera, 11/29/11

Professor, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

The Obama administration's decision to allow states to request waivers from No Child Left Behind was a step in the right direction, but only a baby step. Four in five schools will be deemed "failing" if nothing stops the "train wreck" that NCLB will inflict.

Steve Nelson, 11/29/11

Head of the Calhoun School in Manhattan

You high school seniors, applying to or waiting to hear from colleges, ignore all the nonsense about top tier schools. And especially ignore the ridiculous notion that your SAT score or grade point average defines who you are.

Paul Robinson, 11/29/11

Prevention & education specialist, Between Friends

If we want our young people to have successful relationships, we need to talk to them about it. After all, you can't expect someone to succeed in a subject they've never been taught.

David Sloan Wilson, 11/29/11

Author, 'The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time'; Editor-in-Chief, Evolution: This View of Life

Evolution, the theory that has already proven itself for understanding the rest of life, is equally relevant for understanding the human condition. With understanding comes improvement. Thus, evolutionary theory can be used to improve the quality of human life in a practical sense.

David Katz, M.D., 11/28/11

Director, Yale Prevention Research Center

Good health is perennially on the list of reasons any family has to be thankful, and food is among the most potent of influences on health. The differential effects of pizza and a mixed green salad on health don't change just because politicians play around with the lexicon.

Elissa Kravetz, 11/28/11

Anti-bullying advocate

I used to work 20 hour days, every day, yell at my staff, make my partners crazy, and the truth is none of it really matters. I've been seeking a greater truth and going from Barneys to Soho House just wasn't doing it.

Douglas Anthony Cooper, 11/28/11

Novelist

Vampire science is already poaching some of the best. The woman who teaches vampires at Harvard is a serious scholar of Romantic English literature. Now, Lord Byron did in fact invoke the undead in "The Giaour." But don't kid yourself: it's still a huge and weird notional leap to go from Byron Studies to Vampire Studies.

Jeff DeGraff, 11/28/11

Author, thought leader and innovation expert.

It's easy to cut education because it's a latent form of value -- it pays sometime in the future. Innovation requires the development of new capabilities.

C. M. Rubin, 11/28/11

Author, The Real Alice in Wonderland book. Blogger

Given the intense competition to be accepted, is Cambridge, a world-renowned academic institution, seeing an increase in student anxiety and stress?

David Theo Goldberg, 11/28/11

Director of the Systemwide University of California Humanities Research Institute

It is the combination of spiraling long-term student debt, crimped educational support, and diminished prospects of attractive work opportunities that folks have been protesting. Who can blame them?

Timothy D. Slekar, 11/28/11

Head of the Division of Education, Human Development and Social Sciences, Penn State Altoona

Parents are the only ones with the power to stop high stakes testing and take our schools back from the corporate reformers.

Matthew Lynch, Ed.D., 11/28/11

Assistant Professor of Education, Widener University

Advocacy is an essential part of a teacher's profession. When teachers advocate for a student, their action conveys the message that the teacher cares about their well being and also creates a positive bond between teacher and student.

Christina Patterson, 11/27/11

Writer and columnist, 'The Independent'

I find it hard to disagree with Helen Wright that when little girls wear "Future WAG" T-shirts, and make-up, and high heels, there's "something intensely wrong." But parents, she said, aren't to blame. Schools, she said, had "a key role to play" in providing guidance.

Cara Santa Maria, 11/25/11

Science Correspondent, Huffington Post; Editor, Talk Nerdy to Me

Neuroscientists have shown that in some ways, love is similar to addiction.

StoryCorps, 11/25/11

A national nonprofit oral history organization

This Friday, November 25, marks StoryCorps' 4th annual National Day of Listening, and we are asking everyone to take a moment to thank the teacher who made all the difference.

Jess Coleman, 11/25/11

Occupy Wall Street protesters should pack their bags, declare victory, and prepare some tough questions for any political candidate that undermines their goals. It's time to Occupy Congress.

Esther Wojcicki, 11/24/11

Journalism/English teacher

We are a country who says the glass is half empty instead of half full. We need to change our perspective, at least on Thanksgiving. We all have reasons to be thankful.