I don't complain, say, 'I can't do this, I can't do that.' You don't do that with a big professional director. If you do that, you won't be able to do TV.

I want to be a professional. I want to be like my TV father, Bill Smitrovich. He's an easy, calm actor. I don't want to freak out.

I want to be a professional.

Back in the early '40s, they used to call Down syndrome infants and babies 'mongoloids.' It's very hard for parents.

I can't tell you how many people say they were turned off from science because of a science teacher that completely sucked out all the inspiration and enthusiasm they had for the course.

Back in 2008, after we'd won the election, no one really expected me to keep teaching. But I couldn't just walk away... So I did both. For eight years, that was my life's dichotomy. State receptions - and midterms. Dinner with the most powerful man on earth - and study sessions with single moms.

I think tax is tough in this country. Every time I sign a cheque to pay tax, it drives me crazy. But at the same time, I'm happy to live here. I want to have a good medical system, good education, good roads, so it's a Catch 22. I hate it, but it's a necessary evil.

Without any doubt at all, teacher quality is the fundamental differentiator. Not just, incidentally, of education, but I would argue, probably the biggest single differentiator of success for the nations of the 21st Century.