The Center Cannot Hold: A Critical Look at Contemporary Education

by Dr. Steven J. Bourgeois, Ross M Miller

Over the past half-century, American education leaders and policy-makers have taken measures that, although well intended, have severely hampered and handicapped the educative process. Today, classrooms are filled with increasingly disengaged students, unsatisfied teachers, omnipresent technology, standardized curriculum, and high-stakes tests. Within that context, our task is to problematize education, examining current best practices and time honored traditions. We bring a unique perspective to the investigation, each having served in the role of teacher, administrator, and researcher for the past 30 years. In no way do we harken back to a golden age of teaching. In fact, many of the practices we examine have been deemed non-negotiables for years. These practices represent the small print of teacher evaluations, the political slogans that make up about 30 seconds of the typical State of the Union address, and italicized statements within district mission statements that are posted on the school walls. We question instructional practices and methodologies that have been passed down from teacher to teacher, stamped as tried and true. Nietzsche (1888) spoke of idols as the most ancient and “the most believed in” truths, which upon closer examination prove to be “hollow” (p. 22). We put some of the sacred truths of contemporary education to the test, stirring up a little trouble in a realm that resists controversy. The book includes the following seven and An Examination of EffectsOn Letting The Danger and Saving Power of AssessmentThe Short and Long Reframing the End of EducationThe Case of Technology in the An Exploration of Unintended ConsequencesAuthentic Engagement and Intrinsic An Examination of EffectsTrust the How to Professionalize the ProfessionReclaiming the Proposals to Reinvigorate EducationThe title of our book (The Center Cannot Hold) comes from a poem by William Butler Yeats, who presents an ominous vision of dissolution that has reached a tipping point where natural structures, such as the tides, lose their regulation and anarchy takes over. Since entropy can only remain constant or increase over time, it represents an inexorable force that cannot be reversed. While taking a skeptical tone, we suggest a saving power in the form of teachers who only require trust and space to apply their art.

139 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2022