In Chicago every third-grade teacher is unhappy with every second
grade teacher because, they report, “The kids aren’t ready!” Ditto
every high school teacher in relation to every elementary and middle
school teacher. And now, according to Karen Arenson (May 15, 2007),
we can add college professors to the steady and tiresome whine: the
students are unprepared.
It certainly would be convenient if young people arrived with
everything, save some content we want to impart, already in place,
but perhaps it’s more realistic for teachers at every level to step
back, take a deep breath, and teach the diverse, uneven, complex and
wiggly students who actually show up in their classrooms.
