My last column bemoaned the 19th century factory model that still holds sway in our public middle and high schools. Students show up as products on an assembly line, undergo slight alterations at each station, then are sent down a long chute into the “real world” of college or the workplace. No wonder students tell me they feel like objects!

Although the ideal solution would be to change every school to conform to an entirely new model, there are still things teachers and administrators can do within the old model to make students feel like individuals and not car parts.