ABSTRACT

Michael W. Apple is a leading educational theorist and a prominent voice in current progressive/critical education. Apple was born on 20 August 1942 into a working-class family, with parents who were involved ardently in leftist politics. In the army, he taught compass reading and first aid and credits these experiences with his formation as a teacher. Apple's activism in racial and class politics led him to become a founding member of the Paterson chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality. After receiving a Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies from Columbia University, he took a position at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Apple believes that one of the goals of the rightist coalition is to separate national identity from origin and ethnicity. This is accomplished by dividing history from politics, prying social consciousness loose from social experience and imposing a vision of a classless, homogeneous society with a common transcendent culture in which everyone is an individual.