School & Society: Ch. 14 Study Questions

1. In one of the primary readings for this chapter, Walter Karp writes, "What the public schools practice with remorseless proficiency . . . is the prevention of citizenship and the stifling of self-government." How adequately does he support this claim in the article? Give examples of evidence and arguments he marshals to support his view, and identify from your own knowledge any evidence and arguments he omits which might strengthen or weaken his case.

I'm more and more impressed by how thoroughly homeschooling answers the conundrums of public education. Schools cannot teach self-government, even if they wanted to, because of their structural composition. After all, they are teaching children, and children require direction and a firm hand. This control, while necessary, is fundamentally incapable of creating a sense of self-government. This can only be done naturally and efficiently in the intimate context of home.

To substantiate his claim, Karp cites several operational habits the institution has fallen into or adopted that are demonstrably hostile to critical thinking. Some of these include dogmatic content and testing, large classroom size, and "tracking."

2. Karp says that schools provide a system of unfairness, inequality, and privilege not by accident but by intent. Relying on your knowledge of current and past school reform as well as on Karp's arguments, to what extent do you agree with him? Defend your view.

I'm not as sure that it's deliberate intent as much as it is the inevitable demands of the institutional model. I'm sure many believe in the ideals espoused by Jefferson, Karp, Gatto, et al, but they are simply not feasible to implement within the institutional structure.

3. Karp attacks the first wave of school reform reports as "merely sanctioning the prevailing corruption, which consists precisely in the reduction of citizens to credulous workers." To what degree do you see the second wave of reform - which emphasizes restructuring of curriculum, decision making, and teacher education - achieving different outcomes? Use evidence and arguments from this chapter to defend you view.

Hodgkinson's illustration of the leaky house applies well here: "[We could compare] the school reform movement to a house in which the owners try to stop deterioration by fixing the wiring, the floors, the windows, and everything except the cause of the deterioration - namely, a leaky roof." While I do not know what Hodgkinson considers to be the leaky roof, I would maintain that it is the institutional model, which is deteriorating in turn because of the prevailing social atmosphere of apathy and irresponsibility.

4. Today's college students, for the most part, attended the nation's schools during the contemporary school reform movement. To what degree has your education been influence by such school reform? Explain.

My education was influenced only insofar as trends in curriculum and changing social norms were catalyzed by the contemporary school reform movement. I had not opportunity to directly experience and evaluate the effect of these reforms at the classroom level.