Chapter 3: Creating Academically Challenging Middle Level Schools for Every Child

The execution of Socrates (c. 399 BC) for teaching the youth of Athens to question their government and the established religion is probably one of the first, and certainly among the most arresting, recorded incidents of educational accountability in western history. While more dramatic than contemporary events, the remarkable tale of teachers who suffer terrible consequences rather than recant their beliefs has been told in both history and legend throughout time. But despite his rejection of its beliefs, even Socrates accepted the authority of the State to punish him for his admittedly revolutionary curriculum and methods. Rather than succumb to the entreaties of his students to escape his fate and leave Athens, he chose to drink the hemlock and, instead, become a martyr to intellectual integrity and academic freedom.