ABSTRACT
My historical analysis in Chapter 7 was intended to provoke educational researchers to ask what our responsibilities should be in the twenty-first century. Given the possibility that economic cycles and waves have their own lifespan, and given that these spans are beyond our direct control, what kind of life do we want to promote in classrooms? What sort of teachers do we want to develop? The functionalist assumption that schools should prepare young people for success as adults leads educational researchers and governing policy directors to assume that institutional childhood education should assist our economic adaptation. Granted, schooling should instill competence and confidence in the young. But to directly connect what goes on in the elementary school classroom with the needs of a global, competitive economy is unfair to children and to teachers alike. As a result of the dangers and anxieties of this external environment, two dominant assumptions have emerged in the twentieth century literature:
1 Elementary schoolteachers have some kind of responsibility for promoting national economic success; therefore, their curriculum, pedagogical content knowledge, and knowledge of learners must promote adaptation to changing economic conditions.
