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The Right Coast
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The Death of Authority in the American Classroom

By Thomas A. Smith

Modern education has replaced authority with empty adoration. It now encourages ignorant and enthusiastic admiration of children who frankly do very little to earn it. We have a lot of noisy applauses but precious little well-weighted approbation.

What caused the death of authority in the classroom? The answer is really quite simple: both the teachers and the students. In the time since I first started teaching over two decades ago, a radical reformulation has taken place in our midst.

via quillette.com

The high school teacher from Bakersfield seems to have it about right.