America’s public education has shifted away much from its traditional form in the past two decades, said Marilyn Torley, co-principal of Northern Academy, a private 6–12 school in upstate New York. Torley, an educator with 25 years of experience as a teacher and administrator in New Jersey, said in an interview with NTD’s “Focus Talk” program that she enjoyed a more flexible, need-oriented approach to teaching when she became a teacher in the 1990s. “In the 90s, there was this traditional way of being within a classroom where the curriculum was based on the local needs of the community. And whatever the curriculum was, we, as classroom teachers, had the time to really go in-depth with the students in regards to all subject matters,” Torley told host Jenny Chang. “Students were inquisitive and they were creative, as they are now. But we, as teachers, had much more time within the …