Mildred Wright oral history interview 2, 2006 February 22

In this last of three interviews with Mildred Wright, Ms. Wright discusses her career in education, particularly her role as principal at Coulwood Middle School and Thomasboro School in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ms. Wright explains how the approach to discipline in open schools differed from traditional methods and how open education was influenced by the ideas of Harvard sociologist Dr. Charles Willy, whose work focused on desegregation, and psychiatrist Dr. William Glasser, whose theories of human behavior focused on the role of personal responsibility and on the logical cause-and-effect consequences of individual choices. She also talks about magnet schools, and how she believes that the success of a magnet program depends more on a strong principal and vision more that the program itself. Other topics covered include parental involvement in education, the importance of classroom diversity, the effect of educators' and parents' expectations on students' performance levels, and her feelings about her profession.