A dog tale about connections.

After attending a meeting of Boston school principals during the past year, I was asked by one of our high school headmasters if I'd heard of a book with a curious title about learning and dogs that had recently appeared in paperback. The headmaster recommended the book because it provided a unique story of one person's struggles to overcome tremendous obstacles in order to achieve success in school.

Like all major city school systems, Boston has been focused for the past decade on working with students to overcome obstacles to learning and to meet high academic standards so the headmaster knew I'd be interested in the story.

Lauralee Summer's autobiographical Learning Joy from Dogs without Collars turned out to be more than just a good read. A memoir by a young woman who attended Harvard after spending much of her life as a homeless person, the book is an affirmation of the power of education and the tremendous influence that teachers and other adults can have on helping young people meet great challenges.

The story takes the reader from the author's childhood through her wanderings with her mother and their struggles to manage their lives despite often-desperate poverty. It depicts a series of relationships between Lauralee and caring adults who helped the author to surpass expectations and shatter the stereotypes about people from low-income families.

I cannot imagine anyone who chooses a career in education who doesn't at one point question the decision to work in a field where the financial rewards are not excellent and where the work never seems to be done. Managing a classroom, running a school or leading a school district, educators are always aware, sometimes painfully, of the students we have not reached, the schools that are not improving quickly enough, the parents and families who feel unsatisfied, or the political pressures that demand simple explanations for issues that are sometimes as complex as the human spirit.

After nearly four decades as an educator, I understand when someone jumps to the private sector or grows frustrated or begins to despair that the challenges of education, particularly for children in poverty, may seem insurmountable. For me, Learning Joy from Dogs without Collars is the antidote to this despair.

What is inspiring for me in Lauralee Summer's story is the way it depicts the people along the journey of her life who helped her to dream, to believe in herself and to set high goals despite her circumstances. Her story proves the axiom that whatever our aspirations, none of us can achieve them alone. For me, her story is an illustration of what education is all about--caring people investing themselves in helping others to learn how to learn and, in doing so, how to take care of and be increasingly responsible for themselves.

I am proud to have learned that Lauralee, having graduated from Harvard, has just finished her first year as a teacher in one of our Boston high schools. I'm sure there are as many reasons why people choose education as there are educators. I haven't asked Lauralee yet why she chose teaching, but from her story I'm sure that the powerful connections she made with a series of committed and imaginative teachers have had a strong influence on her career choice.

Learning Joy from Dogs without Collars helped me reaffirm the choices I've made in my life, and reminded me of the power of the connections with others that have helped me throughout my own journey.

Tom Poyzant is superintendent of the Boston Public Schools, 26 Court St., Boston, MA 02108. E-mail: [e-mail]