ABSTRACT
Is an education in a particular cultural tradition necessary for the continuation of a free society? Or, is cultural education another method of authoritarian control? Authoritarian states might use the transmission of culture through schools as another method of winning the allegiance of citizens. Certainly in Nazi Germany the transmission of the culture of the fatherland was part of the process of creating a sense of nationalism and building patriotic fervor. On the other hand, a democratic state might want to pass on a cultural heritage that is supportive of democratic institutions. From the standpoint of Amy Gutmann, a democratic state should consciously transmit a cultural tradition to students that is supportive of her principle of nonrepression. On the other hand, the methodologies of John Dewey and Henry Giroux are in opposition to the transmission of a particular culture. Working from the principle of the social construction of knowledge, both methodologies assume that culture is a product of human interaction and that it should constantly be reconstructed to meet the changing needs of society.
