To find the core of a school, don’t look at its rulebook or even its mission
statement. Look at the way the people spend their time – how they relate to each
other, how they tangle with ideas. Look for the contradictions between words and
practice, with the fewer the better. Try to estimate the frequency and the honesty
of its deliberations. Though it will always want to spruce up for visitors, its hour
by hour functioning is what is important. Judge the school not on what it says but
on how it keeps (Sizer & Sizer, 1999, p.18).