In September's Harper's, Peter Schrag offers an interesting interpretation of the past fifty years in education in his article “Schoolhouse Crock.” Schrag is excellent with description, and I found his overall picture of the educational reform landscape compelling. He argues that in attempting to meet all of the demands placed upon it, schools necessarily come up short.
Having diagnosed the current state of education, where are we left? Schrag writes, “Are schools good enough? Of course n...