Author, mathematician, comedian and Williams College Professor: all of these are features of Edward Burger's resume.  Appearing on campus as part of CA's SPEAK series, Dr. Burger offered an interesting and funny talk to parents.  In keeping with a numeric theme, I offer these top 10 highlights from his presentation:
1. Education should be in the business of changing lives.
2. Great learning comes from failed attempts.  It's all about what happens next. 
3. Parents need to model open-mindedness and intellectual agility.
4. No idea resides in a vacuum; there is a continuum of good ideas, all of which have their own beginning and possibilities.
5. Failure is not a destination but a point in transit.
6. Process matters more than outcomes. 
7. Creating questions as a mindset makes you an active participant in life's journey.
8. Math offers ways of thinking that are more important than the content taught.
9. We should put our students in positions where they can be surprised (this gets them to re-think their assumptions).
10.  We should buy his book!  It's called The Five Elements of Effective Thinking (co-authored with Michael Starbird).