John Dewey was inspired by what he termed "the miracle of shared experience and shared communication." His faith in the power of individuals working in democratic association also included warnings of a darker side, the "monstrosities" that individuals can become when they live and work in isolation from others. In this…

American educators are expected to be partners in the rearing of our children, with crucial roles in children's intellectual and moral development both. We therefore must find thoughtfully balanced ways of assessing school performance and engineering school reform. In this essay, a high school principal reflects on recent accountability reforms in…

We live among an extraordinary mass of data and measurement--connected to a vast, disjointed, yet interconnected body of standards and expectation. There is danger here, for children and for all of us. We risk becoming confused about what standards are most important, what we should aspire to be, and thus what and who we are. In addition to this…

Adolescent willing and desiring is pervasive in mainstream American culture. The result is that America's youth is drowning in itself, in the immaturity, impulsiveness, and pastlessness of our dominant culture. Listening to the voices of youth caught in this crisis, and drawing from the observations of thinkers such as Nietzsche, Erikson, Baldwin,…