re: Zuckerberg Gave NJ $100 Million To Fix Newark's Schools -- It Was Wasted!

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Well, I doubt few teachers are actually experts in their content field. Most have knowledge enough to teach elementary and secondary students the material though. I'll take a school full of people who are knowledgeable in their content area, but are expert communicators, managing classroom and have a passion for the profession.

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You're both right.

Roger, in my experience, the more well-versed a teacher is in their subject area, the more effective they can be in engaging their students with the material.

For example, an economics teacher who only has an average grasp of economics will be forced to drone on about guns and butter and more or less be forced to teach the material at "face value" out of the textbook.

An economics teacher with a great deal of economics knowledge can make analogies, create engaging activities, and overall be more fluid and dynamic with the students because they are comfortable with what they are teaching.

In my perfect world, textbooks would be an aid. Not the primary source of material.