Dixie Johnson Grupe, who teaches social studies to tenth-graders at David H. Hickman High School in Columbia, believes that the teacher is akin to the artist, and that as "Michelangelo sought to free the sculpture from the marble, the teacher seeks to free the innate potential of each student." Since 1992, Mrs. Grupe has been committed to developing programs in keeping with a philosophy of education that promotes strong communication, clear thinking skills and globally aware students. As an interdisciplinary team-teacher, she has developed World Life and Literature, an integrated course that focuses on the connections between the arts and history and is "unrestricted by conventional 50-minute class periods, rigid discipline distinctions and traditional assessment ideologies." Twice a week, Mrs. Grupe also co-teaches a social studies methodology course to future teachers at the University of Missouri.
