Remembering Vito Perrone
Dear Diane,
Vito Perrone (1933-2011) would disapprove of my writing just about him. At times like this he'd be reminding us to organize. And he'd remind us teachers that the kids need you so being as good a teacher as you can be is part of what it means to organize. Day in. Day out.
But it's hard not to spend "wasted" time wishing he were 100 percent with us. And wishing Diane, that you had met him. (I don't think you ever did.) I met Vito in 1973 when the North Dakota Study Group came into being to strategize about early-childhood testing. It lived on—long after Vito was incapacitated while working at Harvard. We were co-teaching a course when he was hit with a stroke. But the NDSG goes on, in a new and ever stronger form. It's living proof of how even sloppy democracy works better than "efficiency first" in the long run. For years now a motley group of people volunteer to meet to plan the next year's February gathering, with input
