Excellent essay. After 33 years of teaching, I have to admit there are some other dynamics at work in education. For one, teachers have been reduced to assembly line workers. All autonomy has been stripped away and replaced with "standards," "learning targets" and other jargon that clogs up real learning. Kids are mostly taught how to obey and how to tolerate boredom. As for me, I teach history, and I now have 33 more years worth of history to teach, but the same amount of time to do it in as I had back in 1987. Every year I wonder if it is the last one for me. I am weary of the recycled "professional development" that is basically the same stuff as 20 years ago only with a new name, a new book to read, and a new motivational speaker making money off the schools.