by M. Halyard

Created on: August 01, 2008   Last Updated: August 03, 2008

As a public high school teacher, I could be tempted to generalize a few main points about the lofty and noble ideals of American education, and then stand back and admire the view from afar...since a closer examination of the institution of public education seems to reveal an embarrassing lack of artistry. However, I promise to avoid that temptation; it's been done ad nauseum by too many politicians, and this title demands a critical approach.

If we were to examine American public education on a sort of evolutionary timeline, I believe we might determine that its development places it somewhere on a par with the muskrat: out of the primordial slime, but not too far up the scale in terms of reasoning or intelligence. One difficulty with such an assessment is that it seems impossible to really describe the current state of American education with any degree of accuracy. Do we have a system of "open education," in which students take responsibility and assume initiative for learning, as so many published advocates of cooperative learning suggest, or do we have a traditional system that is still dominated by teachers? Before I became a teacher, while I was still in teacher school, I believed that American education was on the verge of sprouting a new evolutionary appendage as a result of all the cooperative learning that was reportedly taking place in classrooms. But reality has altered my perceptions. I now believe that the appendage may be a wart, not a set of wings.

It was disappointing to learn this, as a new teacher. I had hoped to stumble on the magic formula that would create that ideal learning environment that is so lauded by professors of education. Now, I see that a teacher has no control over too many important factors to be able to create an "ideal learning environment." For example, a teacher has no control over class size. At the high school level, 35 students is considered a "manageable" class by out-of-touch administrators; 40 is not an unusual number of students in a regular level, core academic class. Within that group, the vast majority of students are likely to be below grade level with regard to reading ability. As I stated, a teacher has no control over this important determinant of the year's curriculum. Teachers who disregard this aspect of classroom management are at risk for serious disillusionment.

I went to graduate school to learn the very latest educational theories, supported by research, so that I could be the very best teacher. How

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