Review
"An essential resource for those grappling with policy, history, and politics in education." (Educational Leadership)
"I have been waiting for this book for a decade. In an age in which the national debate on school reform is concerned principally with tactics and process, this volume focuses on the most important of all questions. What is the purpose of school? How do we know if a school is working? The authors are the most highly regarded names in education. This is an important book for anyone interested in schooling in America today." (Arthur Levine, president, Teachers College, Columbia University)
"Anyone who has felt the onset of cynicism as wave after wave of `school reform' fades unnoticed will feel a burst of new optimism after reading this book. Goodlad and his colleagues remind us forcefully how worthy the ideal of public schooling is and how crucial it is to democracy and to the improvement of society's infrastructure." (Barry Munitz, chancellor, The California State University)
"This book is a genuinely helpful guide for going back to the basics in public school governance. It establishes a credible context in which the public purpose of education and schooling should be reexamined today by community leaders in America's 15,000 public school districts. It is a solid basis on which to begin and carry forth in each local community a searching review of the philosophy of the fundamental purpose of the public schools." (Thomas A. Shannon, executive director emeritus, National School Boards Association)
"The discussion started here by a panel of distinguished educators should become widespread among all those concerned with the meaning of 'public' in public education." (Nel Noddings, Lee L. Jacks Professor of Child Education, School of Education, Stanford University)
From the Inside Flap
As the rhetoric of school reform continues to focus on the private purposes of schooling, the critical public role of schools in promoting the ideals of our American democracy has all but been forgotten. In this exceptional work, prominent educators and scholars explore the vital links between education and a civil society. The book is a collection of eloquent and impassioned essays about the meaning and value of this larger social purpose of education. The Public Purpose of Education and Schooling also contains a transcript of the contributors participating in a spirited and informative panel discussion on the same topic. They debate the fundamental ideals that govern schooling and make a compelling case for a renewed commitment to public education that will foster and ensure our society's rights and freedoms. They propose an expanded mission for education that both identifies schooling as a moral and civic Andeavor and offers a framework for leading the charge for meaningful school reforms.Recognizing that the perpetuation of our democratic society depAnds on an educated populace, the contributors argue that our schools must guarantee that everyone receives a high-quality education. The authors reveal that current proposals for school reform do little to address the gross inequities of our system. Our goal should be to create public schools that are so ?commonly good? that it would make no difference which school one attAnded. The book also makes a persuasive argument that the current property tax system of school finance in inequitable and not in the best interest of the public.The Public Purpose of Education in Schooling is written for teacher educators, policymakers, school board members, school administrators, parents, and anyone who is concerned about educating the citizens of tomorrow so that our democratic freedoms will continue to flourish outside (and inside) the classroom.
