The Yellow Brick Road of Education

Abstract

Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, educators hold a vision that somewhere—perhaps over the rainbow—a place exists that is free from all the knotty and nagging problems of everyday life. For teachers and school administrators, this "Oz" includes classrooms of endlessly inquisitive and motivated youngsters; instructors with a bottomless reservoir of energy, dedication, and talent; and schools free from yearly political haggles over funds needed to buy the texts, hire staff, and heat buildings. Frontline educators—classroom teachers, principals, and the like—as well as researchers and theorists,work toward the attainment of such an educational paradise. However, as evidenced in The Paideia Proposal, a fundamental difference in perspective distinguishes the practitioners' and the academicians' approaches to educational improvement.