Every year, our schools and education policy come to the forefront of public attention. After several international comparative studies have highlighted significant deficiencies in the German education system, proposals and actions to address the pressing issues are increasing: How should the current school system be restructured? What constitutes good teaching? What kind of teachers does the country need? How can the quality of schools be measured and improved? Behind all these questions lies the fundamental question of the meaning and purpose of school and its role in our contemporary world. The author invites the reader on a journey through a teacher's life that spans six decades and takes us through various schools across four continents. Time and again, he poses the question between the lines: Are our schools not increasingly becoming institutions for acquiring knowledge?.