ABSTRACT
Classroom teaching that takes place outside of a rigorous examination of the larger goals of education is always trivialized and degraded. This chapter focuses on the notion that great classroom teaching is always grounded on larger understandings of purpose, a vision of the social role of education, and a sense of what type of people we want to be. Open and rigorous debate about the goals of education and what constitutes good classroom teaching is not only a good thing but is essential in a democratic society. This is why it is important for teachers, political leaders, and the public at large to engage in such a conversation. A primary goal of a critical education in the contemporary globalized world involves not a quest for universal truths but an effort to heal the alienation of twenty first century everyday life.
