I had the unique opportunity to take three courses with Tom Sobol when I was getting my administrative certification. He is, in my opinion, one of the truly good and great people involved in public education today. I was lucky to take his courses when I did because he is retiring at the end of this semester. I’m a better teacher, administrator and person for my interactions with him.

His farewell party was Tuesday up in NYC, and while I couldn’t go, I did submit a piece of writing for his memories book. Here’s what I wrote:

When I talk about Professor Sobol and his classes — which I do a lot — I always have to talk about how much he believed in a constructivist classroom where we all debated in an open environment about the issues of the day. But I always follow that by saying that as much as he believed in that model — and as many of us in the class did as well — what we all really wanted to do was just sit and listen to him talk about education while we all desperately tried to copy, word for word, what he was saying. We all viewed the chance to listen to him talk about education and to then talk to him about education after class as a true opportunity to learn. Perhaps it was his only failure as a professor that he was never able to convince any of us that we were as smart or thoughtful as he was… although he tried to convince us of that often.

I can’t begin to sum up all that I have learned from Professor Sobol, except to say that it is often his words and his thoughts that I hear when I think about how we are to change the educational system here in Philadelphia. Knowing Professor Sobol, it would probably embarrass him when he finds out that I directly quote him often, but I do.

In this era of standardization, I tell people of Professor Sobol’s words that express my thoughts better than I could have hoped to, “You can regulate the worst abuses out of a system, but you can never regulate goodness or excellence because goodness and excellence come from the hearts and minds of the people within the system.”” It’s amazing how, even at the highest levels of administration, his words resonate with people and force them to reexamine their own ideas.

The other quote of Professor Sobol’s that I interact with every day is hanging in my office, “When you have the chance to change the world, don’t screw up.” It’s hanging in my office over the door. There’s nothing quite like having a daily reminder of what Professor Sobol thought we were all capable of to drive you just that little bit harder. As a result, in September when Science Leadership Academy opens, Professor Sobol’s ideas, words and vision will represent the best of what I hope we can be.

Thank you, Professor Sobol, for giving eloquent and clear voice to the ideas so many of us feel but do not always know how to express. Thank you for being an example of the difference one person with deep convictions can make. Thank you for always telling us that we, too, could make that difference. And thank you for always pushing us to dream of what is possible, rather than settling for what is.

Thank you,

Chris Lehmann