ABSTRACT
In 1983 the National Commission on Excellence in Education declared that the United States was "a nation at risk" because of the poor performance of its schools. Once America's schools had been examined and found wanting, there was an outpouring of reports about schools and proposals for reform. The states and the education "establishment" have responded to the calls for reform. Almost every state has made some changes to strengthen academic requirements and increase compensation for teachers. Public schools will inevitably be open to the charge of doing too much or too little to achieve the appropriate aims of public education. Educational philosophy and psychology have hardly progressed to the point where we know what education should accomplish, let alone how to produce it. The relationship of ideology and interests has also been at the center of debates about the American public education. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
