Looking toward the future - T&C epilogue

As I read the closing chapter, I grappled with the closing arguments attempting to take some overall closing perspective or wrap-up to the discussions we have followed throughout these books. I realized it was not going to happen. The reason why I cannot seem to find a well informed personal stance on many of these issues has been eluding me all semester, but it was here from the beginning. There are simply too many different definitions, too many different ideals and interests, too many conflicting, complimentary or totally unrelated goals in the minds of the different groups and philosophers that have a stake in the country's public education system. It has appeared to me throughout that with each effort towards reform, there are those who believe it has succeeded and those who believe it has failed. With each change there are those who perceive change for the better and those who think it has taken a turn for the worse. Our discussions have therefore floated through the different perspectives and the chapters have presented so many different arguments, that it has been very difficult for me to decide what my position is. I have decided that I do not have one. I have gained just enough information to be aware that I cannot make an informed decision on most of the efforts in the history of school reform, not without being in each classroom where they are implemented and actually observing their effects in relation to a specified ideal or improvement. I am aware of more issues and many different perspectives than I ever was, and that is about as much as I can claim. I hope that is what was intended in our readings here :-)