ABSTRACT
There are key words that continually surface in the debates over education. These key words have complicated histories, histories that are connected to the social movements out of which they arose and in which they are struggled over today. These words have their own histories, but they are increasingly interrelated. The concepts are simple to list: markets, standards, God, and inequality. Almost all of the social programs that many of us now take as "natural" came about because of progressive mobilizations against the denial of basic human rights. Although these attacks on public institutions are broader than education, educational institutions have been centrally located in rightist criticisms. This chapter explores rightist educational beliefs, proposals, and programs—and their effects in the real world. The book Educating the "Right" Way provides a picture of how the odd combination of markets, return to lost traditions and values, a godly education, and the managerialism of tightened standards and guaranteeing "quality" are pulled together.
