Foreword by David C. Berliner (p.xiv-xvi)
- The power of routines, scripts, and all kinds of established procedures to guide action in environments that are stable and predictable is not be questioned. But as events become less certain, and the outcomes desired less standardized, adherence to those same routines can be ineffectual, if not dangerous.
- Too much of classroom life has become too routinized: 1) due partly to powerful accountability policies that demand that certain student outcomes be achieved; 2) another reason for this increase in demand for uniformity and routines in schools arises from the increasing dominance of business models models applied to education. (works in business settings but not in teaching)