The voices of teachers are missing from today's celebrated dialogue about schooling in the United States. To help remedy this, HER invited a group of high school teachers to review one of the major works of this dialogue.1 This essay, written by Paula M. Evans, a member of the group,synthesizes their thoughts and reactions to Ernest Boyer's High School. While the review does not pretend to detail every nuance of the discussion about the book, it does reflect the major issues,questions, and criticisms raised in that discussion.
A sentence or two on the history and membership of the group may be of interest. In July 1982, the Boston/Newton Local History Collaborative and the Education Collaborative for Greater Boston jointly sponsored a conference, inviting secondary school teachers from the Boston area to explore and design collaborative efforts.2 Several teachers who attended that conference decided to continue meeting as a study group. Over the last year and a half they have met regularly to discuss relevant books and articles, hear speakers, and share perspectives on the dilemmas,challenges, and frustrations of schooling.