ABSTRACT
Defining the possibilities of schools and the purposes of a system of US public education is an uneasy task. The work of US schools used to be an expression of a consensus, a set of agreements on the nature of adult society and what ought to be transmitted to the upcoming generation. The diversity of voices, horizons and opinions from the outside was distracting, at odds with the culture of public schooling. Schools would wall out the polyphony of the ever-changing culture; something better, something more democratic, something more ‘American’ would counteract the heterogeneity that seemed to many to threaten the existence of community. Schools of the future, no matter what their origin or allegiance, will be called upon to do more than what is loosely called ‘community service’. Art works being merely present in the school building are not sufficient nor are some of the partnerships now in existence between US schools and cultural institutions.
