I recall a U.S. Department of Education official being asked why A Nation At Risk dealt almost entirely with issues at the high school level. When the elementary school's failings have been addressed, it has usually been in terms of the neglect of special populations, as in Jonathan Kozol's Death at an Early Age and Savage Inequalities, or Herbert Kohl's 36 Children. Cuban's historical observations were confirmed by the more contemporary observations of John Goodlad. Talking requires the organization of thought and can be an important avenue to learning. We check out our ideas, argue with authors, bounce issues back and forth, ask friends to read our early drafts, talk together after seeing a movie, pass on books we have loved, attend meetings and argue out our ideas, share stories and gossip that extends our understandings of ourselves and others.
Talk lies at the heart of our lives.
Now it is true that within the teacher-centered elementary classroom, a number of things have changed over the years. Classrooms are, by and large, pleasant places for children. But schools are still often charged with being remote from the real world. He thought that was because so much of the knowledge had been produced outside the classrooms. He was right.