There is a “fear of being unorthodox…rooted in the soul of the American teacher” (Burgess 237). Burgess highlights the prohibition on the competence of an American teacher to instruct his or her students using any type of experimental approach other than the standardized model. As a result, America is incapable of breeding eccentric geniuses and lacks the ability to instill a burning desire to learn in its students. The reason this dilemma has persisted for so long is because America has been blinded by its previous accomplishments, like the moon landing. In the name of its successful progressive past, the American people deny the current poverty of the educational system and are convinced that the nation continues to progress as it was decades ago, when in fact it is exactly the same.