Readers may rightly question whether the topics and issues discussed in this book can be addressed in public secondary schools. I think they can be, but the task is not an easy one. In this brief concluding chapter, I'll try to identify the obstacles to be overcome and suggest a realistic way to begin.

Preparing Teachers

How can teachers be prepared to conduct critical lessons and, in particular, to conduct such lessons on issues that do not appear in the standard curriculum? Perhaps we are asking too much. Both teacher educators and policymakers today insist that every classroom be staffed by a highly qualified teacher. But what does this mean for the sorts of lessons I have suggested?

In most states in the United States, teachers are considered highly qualified if they have received the prescribed training required for a credential; thus, highly qualified is synonymous with credentialed. To evaluate the worth of a credential requires considerable analysis. Even properly credentialed teachers sometimes exhibit deplorable ignorance. In recent talks with young teachers, I heard many of them express concerns about their own deficiencies. One young man, a fifth-grade teacher, was worried about teaching science; he didn't “know much science.” Another was afraid of teaching arithmetic and, watching her, I was convinced that she was very shaky on operations with fractions. Still another revealed in his written work that he had not mastered the rudiments of spelling and punctuation.