James A. Beane is Professor of Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in Curriculum, National College of Education, National Louis University. He has taught in schools for compulsory and upper secondary education, and project manager of the New York State Education Regional Planning Centers. He is the author of Affect in the Curriculum: Toward Democracy, Dignity and Diversity and A Middle School Curriculum: From Rhetoric to Reality; coauthor of Self-Concept, Self-Esteem and the Curriculum, Curriculum Planning and Development, The Middle School and Beyond and When the Kids Come First: Enhancing Self-Esteem at the Middle Level; cocompilador of Democratic Schools; and editor of the Yearbook of the ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development), Toward a Coherent Curriculum.