ABSTRACT
We went to England at the height of the open education movement in North America; a time when many professional educators, intellectuals, and political leaders of diverse persuasion appeared to be united in a belief that schools could promote humane values and social justice – and be places where children learn to read, write, do mathematics to a high standard without sacrificing other areas of intellectual, social, moral and aesthetic growth, nor the joys of childhood. Books by John Holt, Paul Goodman, Jonathan Kozol, George Dennison, Herbert Kohl and others, 1 portraying the absurdities and horrors of American public schooling, were widely read and generally warmly received by middle-of-the-road liberal and left-leaning journals of opinion. 2 Educational reform was a hot item. ‘Alternative schools’ were being created in store fronts and within the existing systems. In many locations ‘teachers’ centers’ based on the English experience were struggling to become established with the assistance of foundation and federal grants. Teacher-education programs normally populated by compliant young women were drawing politically active admirers of Herbert Marcuse and/or Charles Reich’s Consciousness III. 3 ‘Open’ and ‘humanistic’ education sessions and workshops were everywhere, even at the national conventions of the staid professional education associations.
