This is one of the things that changed over the past 20-30 years in an effort to boost the US international rankings. Every level in the system has attempted to remove control from the lower layers. At this point the teachers are mostly functioning as little more than preprogrammed robots. Even in the less restricted classes, you have district level mandates/guidance on what kind of CAD software/etc can be taught, and how much time is given to each part of the subject, generally down to the day.
I had a middle school English teacher who spent a couple weeks at the beginning of the school year teaching a basic calligraphy style. His general idea was to instill a respect and love for penmanship believing that would extend to the words being written as well. I can honestly say that in my 14 years of English education (including a few mandatory college classes), I both enjoyed and probably learned more in that single English class than any other single English class (which was generally my worst subject).
I happened to run across some of his pictures a few years back, and had a short online conversation where I learned he had been forced out of education after 30 something years teaching because the school refused to allow him any flexibility to extend the curriculum. That particular school where he taught, and I attended was likely the worst school I ever went to (and still today has very poor rankings) yet, it had five teachers who I consider to have some of the largest affect on my education. Including one that encouraged and helped me to enroll in her C programming class at the local JC when I was in middle school.
So, I haven't any idea how those teachers that used to have the largest affects on some kids survive without the flexibility to diverge from the curriculum to make the subject interesting for their students.
I had a middle school English teacher who spent a couple weeks at the beginning of the school year teaching a basic calligraphy style. His general idea was to instill a respect and love for penmanship believing that would extend to the words being written as well. I can honestly say that in my 14 years of English education (including a few mandatory college classes), I both enjoyed and probably learned more in that single English class than any other single English class (which was generally my worst subject).
I happened to run across some of his pictures a few years back, and had a short online conversation where I learned he had been forced out of education after 30 something years teaching because the school refused to allow him any flexibility to extend the curriculum. That particular school where he taught, and I attended was likely the worst school I ever went to (and still today has very poor rankings) yet, it had five teachers who I consider to have some of the largest affect on my education. Including one that encouraged and helped me to enroll in her C programming class at the local JC when I was in middle school.
So, I haven't any idea how those teachers that used to have the largest affects on some kids survive without the flexibility to diverge from the curriculum to make the subject interesting for their students.