I'm not sure it suffers that flaw--I may not have articulated it well, but my point wasn't that teaching cannot be improved, or these methods do not improve it.

I'm not sure it suffers that flaw--I may not have articulated it well, but my point wasn't that teaching cannot be improved, or these methods do not improve it. Or that it's not worthwhile to improve it... it certainly is! (implied: and your method may very well be a valid way to achieve that improvement) It's a re-examination of goals, in a way. Improving teaching is a goal, but only so much as it serves to better educate students. So: is that the largest component in the US's current production of poorly educated students? If I were making a movie, to invoke emotion and to inspire people (read: wide audiences) to think and to change, is that the most valuable way I could challenge the audience? Is that the part of the equation with the largest impact? I'm arguing it isn't.