American Education An Introduction to Social and Political Aspects

includes index and biblioraphy

Part 1 : The school and the social structure ...1 1 The purpose of public schooling ...3 Public versus private Goals ...4 The political purposes of schooling ...6 The social purposes of schooling ...11 The economic purposes of schooling ...18 The national reports and the economic demands of the 1980s ...23 Liberals, neo- conservatives and critical theorists ...30 Exercises ...34 Suggested readings and woks cited in chapter ...34 2 The profession of teaching ...37 The rewards and dissatisfactions of teaching ...39 The professionalization of teaching ...46 Career ladders and Master teachers ...51 Anation prepared : Teachers for the 21st century ...56 Teacher education ...61 Exercises ...70 Suggested readings and works cited in hapter ...70 3 The politics of curriculum, Instruction, and theories of learning ...73 Curriculum ...74 Instruction ...81 Theories of learning ...84 Conclusion ...92 Suggested readings and works cited in chapter ...92 4 The social structure and American education ...95 Equality of opportunity ...95 Social -Class differences ineducation ...98 Social Mobility and education ...104 Education and income ...108 Inequality of educational opportunity and equality os pooprtunity ...110 Effective schools and the mediation of family background ...114 Exercises ..120 Suggested readings and works cited in chapter ...120 5 Equality of educational opportunity ...123 The struggle for civil rights ...125 Desegregation of American schools ...128 Segregation within schools ...136 Black suburbia ...139 Sexism and equality of educational opportunity ...146 The new immigrants ...150 Exercises ...153 Suggsted readings and works cited in chapter ...154 Part II Power and control in American education ...157 6 Power and control in the local school district ...159 The Social composition and political world of boards of education ...160 The governing power of boards of education ...170 The political world of the school administrative staff ...173 The superintendent and the board of education ...176 Local control in american Education ...179 Exercises ..182 Suggested readings and works cited in chapter ...182 7 Power and control at the state level ...185 State authority over education ...186 The organization of state systems of education ...188 The structure of power in state education ...190 Lobbyists and the state legislature ...193 Business and teachers unions in state politics ...196 Should the state regulate public and private schools ? ...198 Exercises ...202 Suggested readings and works cited in chapter ...202 8 Power and control at the federal level ...205 Methods of control ...206 The politics of education at the national level ...221 The president and the congress ...226 Exercises ...229 Suggested readings and works cited in chapter ...229 9 Teachers organizations and other interest groups ...231 The national educational association (NEA) ...232 The American federation of teachers (AFT) ...238 Private foundations ...246 Washington lobbyists ...250 Accrediting Associations ...253 A theory of conflictin American education ...255 Exercises ...257 Suggested readings and works cited in chapter ...257 10 The courts and the schools ...259 Compulsion, religion and the schools ...261 Secular humanism and the religion of public schooling ...270 The academic freedom of teachers and students ...274 Do school authorities have the rights to beat children ? ...283 The language of the schools ...285 School finances ...286 Exercises ...290 Suggested readings and works cited in chapter ...290 Index ...293