Very good article, and some excellent comments (from both sides) as well. I only want to identify a few issues that, in my opinion, have not gotten enough attention.

1. Parents. When kids show up in the morning, they bring with them not questions about yesterday's class but rather the attitude and biases they live in at home. Some of those attitudes are supportive of the classroom, but many are not. The teacher can (and must) adjust to those biases, but she cannot change them. You simply cannot effectively teach a child in pain.

2. Differences between kids. Almost all of the comments assume we are talking about "the student", a homogenous entity whom we are all trying to help. Well, I don't know how many students I taught, but I know that no two of them were the same. What works for the student who wants to be a coach does not work for another student who wants to be an engineer. There is no one teaching for all. I don't know the solution, but this is why I favor a mentor/ apprentice approach over classroom lectures.

3. Money needs to be done differently. In any dispute between parents, on the one side, and teachers and/or students, on the other, the administration will invariably go with the parents, even when they know that the student/teacher point of view is much more beneficial to the school, . Why? Because they know who pays them. I can't really blame administrators since they came from teaching positions where they made almost nothing. But once again, the student, more often than not, is the loser.

Food for thought.