Winter 2024

“OUR PUBLIC officials are not much concerned about the ‘waste of human resources’…. But … the big causes of stupidity, of lack of initiative and lack of honorable incentive, are glaring,” noted Paul Goodman—a half-century ago—in Growing Up Absurd. “Our …

Despite popular impressions and dinner-table gossip, the problems of our schools, and above all of “school reform,” are not the result of unions. I speak in part from personal experience over the past thirty-five years in New York City and …

Bob Chase, the president of the National Education Association, recently declared that its members should “move beyond ideology” and “Politics must stop at the school door.” As I daily try to weave my way through the politics of schooling in …

We’re in a position both enviable and unenviable. Everyone, especially our allies, thinks we’ve created a kind of Camelot, the school of tomorrow. Not only is the school radically different than most, but our statistical success is impressive. In the …

September 14. The children are especially studious the first week. It’s even true of us teachers. We look more professional in September. We imagine every fall that this time we’re going to get it right. We start off with fresh …

This conversation on President Bush’s “bold new plan” for American education was conducted between Brian Morton, asking questions, and our co-editor Deborah Meier, who has gained nationwide praise as founder and director of the Central Park East public schools in …

I came to New York City in the fall of 1966, and began teaching in Central Harlem a few months later. Within the next two years the schools were embroiled in two strikes. Parents were organized and vocal; teachers believed …

The release of a half-dozen prestigious reports on schooling in America has initiated, according to Secretary of Education T. H. Bell, “the greatest, most promising development since the turn of the century.” Schools are, again, big news. Diane Ravitch, a …

Hard-headed realists tell us, much as we may wish otherwise, standardized tests prove that millions of America’s schoolchildren (approximately half) are failing to learn even the basic educational skills. Despite all the efforts of the Great Society (Head Start, Titles …

For some time now I have been teaching in a Harlem elementary school and trying to understand the attitudes shown by the parents toward the school. Last September, the teachers’ strike forced me to speculate on how the hostilities of …