Confessions of a Headmaster

"In a book that is both a memoir and manifesto for education reform, Cummins . . . chronicles his remarkable career as a teacher, headmaster, and school founder. . . . An inspiring memoir of a determined man committed to social change."
-Kirkus Reviews

"Confessions of a Headmaster, by Paul Cummins, the legendary educator who brought his first school . . . from the brink of closing down in bankruptcy to national prominence, is the chronicle of a group endeavor. Cummins recruited teachers with a passion for the subjects they taught, and the school they created together treated the arts, athletics, community service, human development, and environmental studies as subjects every bit as ‘solid' as the so-called core curriculum. This is also 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

“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

“When Paul Cummins founded Crossroads School, in 1971 . . . . Private school was for the rich, the white, the privileged. But Paul Cummins thought it was time for that to change. Confessions of a Headmaster is the story of that change, 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, co-founder of the Archer School for Girls, and of the Pine Ridge Girls’ School

“This book makes me appreciate the genius behind Crossroads—the first school that understood that poetry, music, and backpacking are as important to turning out great students as are mathematics and science. And if there hadn't been a school where the whole kid mattered, I would never have been able to accomplish the things I've been lucky enough to do in this life. Paul Cummins and Crossroads changed my life.”
—Amy Pascal, former co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment