In this essay, John S. O'Connor and Avi D. Lessing discuss the increasingly reductive and routinized nature of contemporary schools and the costs such an approach holds for students and teachers alike. The current approach is especially troublesome in light of the rich history of progressive voices, such as Paul Diederich, who have cautioned…

Many people have ideas about what it means to teach in inner-city schools, but they are often off the mark. This essay explores the challenges, beauties, and complexities of working in an alternative/transfer school in New York City, with a population that is at very high risk for dropping out. Through individual portraits of students, the author…