Published: November 1, 1999

Schmookler's Choice

After four years of struggle, a young inner-city teacher bids farewell to the classroom.

"Kids in high school don't come up and hug you," says Ben Schmookler of his move from high school teacher to elementary school administrator.

The late John Holt, one of the most astute and articulate school critics to emerge from the 1960s, once said that expecting a good teacher to do good work in a bad school is like asking a surgeon to operate with a rusty knife. It's hard to be effective. The teacher, he believed, is better...