David Greene is a former 38-year Social Studies teacher, mentor, and coach. After teaching, he supervised new teachers while working for Fordham University. Now he is a partner in the BIGS Project, a program to help high school and college students learn the life skills necessary to choose, get, and do a great job. He is also a program consultant for an organization that helps high schools create and run experiential learning programs for seniors. He is the author of Doing the Right Thing: A Teacher Speaks and former Treasurer of Save Our Schools. His blogs have appeared in Diane Ravitch’s website, EdCircuit, Education Week, US News and World Report, and the Washington Post. He wrote the most responded-to Sunday Dialogue letter in the New York Times, entitled “A Talent for Teaching.” He has also appeared in a TV documentary, The growing movement against Teach for America. David writes opinion pieces for EdCircuit; the opinions he expresses here are solely his own.