"The Classroom Crucible"

"The classroom is the crucible in which education takes place. The classroom holds the raw materials of education: the teachers and students; the materials for teaching and learning; the concentrated time for work; and the shared energy that comes from intense, sustained involvement with other people.

The people with the greatest stake in the classrooms are those whose lives are directly affected by the quality of each day's classroom events: teachers and students. They are in the crucible. . . . I came to believe that education policies could not be properly understood as part of a broader picture of education, one solidly based on the realities of daily life in the classrooms.

Throughout its history education policy research has seen teachers and students as passive, unresponsive followers who must be told what to do at every turn. . . . Money and policies, not the classrooms, are the focus of attention.

The metaphors of control and nurturance (better services, counseling, remedial instruction, tutoring, etc.) have been used to support highly specific policies on teaching methods, textbooks, instructional materials, and testing."

From "The Classroom Crucible" by Edward Pauly, 1991