ABSTRACT
The author was once described as "a friend of the teacher", with reference to the fact that he has argued that teachers should be given more autonomy to determine what specific materials, texts, and topics they should use in the classroom, and how they should teach. However, he has also argued that if teachers are to be encouraged to exercise such autonomy, they need to be educated properly themselves. The author's point has never been that as a matter of fact teachers are wiser and more to be trusted than school boards, administrators, or researchers. It is that the nature of education is such that a great deal of the research on which people base their curriculum and policy decisions is misconceived, and consequently misleading, and that what it is best to do in a classroom depends a great deal on particular situations and people, and cannot readily be encompassed in general rules.
