ABSTRACT
In this chapter I demonstrate relationships among the foundations laid by Waller, Lortie, and Jackson. Once common themes are defined and then held for comparison it’s going to be possible to see how they formed the continuum that produced the “golden years” of teacher development research during the 1980s and 1990s. I display these themes in the next two chapters. In this chapter I show how a direct 50-year continuum extends from Willard Waller, in 1932, to “A Nation at Risk,” in 1983. These years were characterized by some of the worst recessions since 1929 (i.e. 1981-1982; 1987; and especially 1990-1991). S¸ims¸ek’s research shows that economic recessions have implications for theorizing about reform. Increased evidence and arguments are mounting that the current economic downturn is, in fact, the onset of a second Great Depression that will rival and perhaps even surpass the one of the previous century (see, for example, Brussee, in press). As I showed in Chapter 7, theoretical prescriptions are perpetuated across similar economic conditions. If we can recognize repetitive themes and recommendations, then we are in a position to theorize alternative perspectives when similar economic conditions inevitably return. We might imagine alternatives that might be more applicable and sustainable during the forthcoming economic crisis. But I also believe that these alternatives are always present as anomalies within the continuum. One only needs to change one’s perspective to let them surface. These anomalies could offer new directions for research during the years ahead, years that I believe will present us with some of the most pressing economic problems in a generation. New questions and new solutions need to be radically different from what we have witnessed perennially during the past century. Speculating on these possibilities is the purpose of my study. Let’s begin by summarizing and comparing themes that are recurrent during the 1930s and 1970s, both periods of economic insecurity and global wars.
