36 Children

Dr. Kohl's look inside a Harlem public school classroom is sobering. Fresh out of college and eager to teach, the reality of 36 children, none to whom the "system" expected to deliver anything resembling education, nearly left the young teacher depressed. But he did what great teachers always do: He met the students where they were, instead of forcing them into some pedogogical mode. Yet, after a year of accomplishment, Kohl looked on in despair as the "system" once again absorbed his 36 children into its mediocre attempt to do not much more than warehouse them for another year. A few of his children carried forward their one year with him into a lifetime of accomplishment, and for this he is pleased.