The History and Goals of Public Schooling Reflection

In chapter 1 of The History and Goals of Public Schooling, it expresses multiple opinions on the purpose of public schooling. Public schooling is generalized for the needs of a whole group as a community or country rather than the individual student’s needs and goals they are able to achieve personally. It was expressed that these decisions are determined by members of the local, state and federal governments instead of the parents and opinions of the parents in that community. This chapter basically divides the issues and possible solutions that have been done or can be done to help the system by splitting the topics into political, social and economic goals of schooling. There is also a brief explanation of the role of business in American education.  This chapter lets us know that we may or may not agree with these facts and opinions but they want readers to be aware of the controversies.

The political goals of schooling shows us the timeline of a long history of civil and political issues that have gone on throughout the decades that affected the laws and ethics of learning. These issues caused social impacts. For example, it started out in the 1820’s when moral and political values and equal opportunities were tough. Continuing into the 1900’s, a debate on sex education arises and its appropraitnes and intentions.Then in the 1970’s, they create career education to allow the teaching of typical trades in that time in order to guide students into specific workplaces afterwards assuming those are the careers they are supposed to pursue especially for women. Politicians determined the teachings in these times of schooling that ultimately affected the social and economic status of each community. 

The social and economic topics in the history of educational goals tie together. In our social history we know that Horace Mann had a lot to do with the improvements or some may say setbacks. Mann believed a person’s characteristics stemmed from what they are learning in their educational social settings. He felt learning how to be decent citizens in a classroom and inside a school building will help the economy and improve crime by teaching moral values through education. On the other hand there were socialist like Edward Ross who used social control in education to maintain order, crime and social rebellion. He believed in internal social control and external social control. He believed in controlling behaviors by following their moral values by using police and military regulation which can be outside of moral values. I agree with both of these socialist perspectives, moral values should be learned in and out of school and are key to becoming a successful student and citizen but it is also necessary to have police and military regulation in order to enforce the safety to allow all of us to have these opportunities.

As the education system continues to become aware of what’s necessary in the growing economies, we bring in higher standards for all people. Even in low income urban areas. They created head start programs, vocational and career educational programs in efforts to raise the level of success the economy needed. Their intentions were the more people educated, the better economic growth this country will have. That also created educational inflation. They needed more jobs that require this level of education that was taught because people actually acquired this knowledge but instead, they were working mediocre jobs because those positions weren’t made available to them.

Economics has become the number one priority of public schools because all of these topics tie into one another and over affect the country economically. I feel that if we went back to the beginning where we generalized the needs of education as a whole community and turned the goal into the opposite, reforming the needs per individual student, we’d have a successful outcome. The local, state and federal governments wouldn’t have to blame schools for social and economic problems. They were looking at the bigger picture but not paying attention to the smaller details of students’ needs in public schools. Not everyone can learn and practice these values at the same pace with the same understanding when our society is filled with different cultures and circumstances.