Four ideas or theses about schooling and leadership together form a coherent approach to teaching and learning in the high-quality school. They form the basis, if not for large-scale reform, at least for individual consideration and adoption. The first thesis is that humans are creatures of perspective or viewpoint. The second thesis is that the technocratic perspective prescribes how problems--all problems--are to be set and solved. The prescribed pattern is useful for determinate settings and potentially harmful for indeterminate settings, such as schooling. The third thesis is that from birth onward, humans intend to make sense or meaning of the world around them. They form structures, patterns or schemas that enable them to predict and choose. The fourth thesis is that the good school leader collegially envisions, creates, and sustains settings in which thoughtful teaching and learning may take place. High quality schools are places where people--children and adults--discover the power of understanding and where they eschew technocratic and irrational "programmatic skill-acquisition." (Seven figures illustrating aspects of the four theses are included; 21 references are attached.) (RS)