1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910816742603321

Autore

Smith Kevin B. <1963->

Titolo

The ideology of education [[electronic resource] ] : the commonwealth, the market, and America's schools / / Kevin B. Smith

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Albany, : State University of New York Press, c2003

ISBN

0-7914-8732-6

1-4175-0088-3

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (213 p.)

Disciplina

379.1/11

Soggetti

Privatization in education - United States

Education - Political aspects - United States

Democracy - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-190) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Contents -- List of Tables and Figures -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Ideology and Education -- Education and the Economy -- Education and Equality of Opportunity -- Institutional Structure and Educational Goals -- Institutional Structure and Educational Goals -- Education as Ideology -- Notes -- Methodological Appendix -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Advocates of market-based education reforms (including such policies as choice, charters, vouchers, and outright privatization) argue that they represent ready solutions to clearly defined problems. Critics of market models, on the other hand, argue that these reforms misperceive the purposes of public education and threaten its democratic ethos. This book explores both the promises and pitfalls of market forces—their potential to improve the quality of public education and their compatibility with its republican justifications. Smith argues that although market models of education are not without utilitarian merit, their potential to alter the social-democratic purposes of education is seriously underestimated. He supports this claim with a series of sophisticated analyses of the key assumptions underlying these models, and by examining the normative elements of theory and methodology that can—and often do—skew empirical policy analysis



toward market preferences. He concludes that market reforms are not just a ready means to effectively address the problems of public schooling but rather represent a clear attempt to ideologically redefine its ends.