You know about all those extremes. They surround behavior-management attitudes. They surround subject issues. As an English teacher, I was frequently accosted by people at parties who asked me which end of the spectrum I was at. Was I a creative teacher? Creative teachers apparently think that spelling doesn’t matter. They are also the people who encourage children to mug little old ladies in the name of self-expression. Hollywood and the tabloid press play a part in this nonsense. Or was I a back-to-basic man, who operated in rows, in black-and-white and in the subjunctive? It’s hard to say that you’re both; it’s tempting to retreat to the centre ground, and try a little of everything.