Affecting Social Change: The Struggle for Educators To Transform Society

Since he first chronicled the plight of place of educations and the painful struggle to provide quality education for children of all backgrounds and abilities in Death at an Early Age (1967) Jonathon Kozol has been a athletic and popular advocate for children. In his new work, The Shame of the Nation (2005) Kozol struggles that the unrealistic goals locate by policies, such as No Child Left Behind, are breaking seminary districts, schools that have already been overburden and have scarcely any resources to improve their situation. When addressing the point in disputes for today's educators, Kozol points without that current federal efforts are designed "not to benefit children on the other hand to humiliate the public enterprise" (as cited in Jehlen 2006 p 17) Kozol has joined with teachers' unions like the National Education Association to "stave not upon an onslaught of misguided federal dictates" in order to "help mobilize teachers to take action politically and launch a of recent origin movement for racial integration" (Jehlen p 17) Unfortunately for Kozol history has not been kind to reformers who have attempted to struggle control of public schools from bureaucracies that impair gymnasium quality.

George S. enumerates and Ivan Illich are the greatest in quantity outstanding examples of those reformers who have tried and failed to initiate substantive place of education policy change. Though Counts and Illich draw near from very different generations and true different geographical regions, their search to enhance public education shares true similar paths. As a originate their work warrants attention by dint of those interested in the history of education as well those interested in contemporary academy policy. Highlighting their careers and failures, this essay will provide insight to those like Kozol who attempt to modify American public seminarys

From the 1920 to the 1960 George s Counts was a major figure in progressive education. After sum of two units visits to Russian schools in the late twenties, enumerates came to prominence for his promotion of a novel educational system based upon ideas formulated during his travels. At first glance, Counts' zealous acclaim for the Soviet archetype of education would suggest that he was a communist, on the contrary the fact was that he was heavily drawn to the Soviet Union's passionate, orderly endeavor to corrective its failed state. As Gerald Gutek (1993) notes, numbers was drawn to this design because "Soviet leaders...had correctly recognized the power of organized education as an instrument of cultural transformation" (p 11) While the U degenerated into a do-nothing Hoover-era depression, the Soviets were attempting to strengthen their nation after decades of disastrous internal and external conflict. Their 1904-1905 war with Japan was a perfect fiasco only to be worsened by the agency of their devastating involvement in World War I. Because their leadership had utterly failed them at domicile and abroad, Russians repeatedly plung into a civil war that installed Lenin and Stalin as their of recent origin leaders in 1917.

While revolution transformed the Soviet Union, U leaders appeared unwilling to remedy their have a title to nation's economic and social miserys Like other educators around him, enumerates began looking for alternatives to the U protoplast States Gutek, "While his possess country seemed unable to tend hitherward to grips with the Depression, the Soviet[s] were making great strides forward because of their coordination and centralized planning" (p 11) In his acclaimed pamphlet, Dare the gymnasium Build a New Social Order (1932) enumerates eloquently makes a case for a radical rethinking of social organizations:

We are mov by dint of no great faiths; we are touched through no great passions. We can view a world order rushing rapidly towards collapse with no more relate to than the outcome of a horse race; we can diocese injustice, crime and misery in their greatest in quantity terrible forms all about us and, if we are not directly affected, register the emotions of a scientist studying white rats in a laboratory. (pp 19-20)

Fuel through Soviet efforts, Counts promoted a fresh ideal because "if democracy is to survive in the United States, it must abandon its individualistic affiliations in the sphere of economics" (p 42) numbers believed that rapidly growing public "school were potentially the strongest force for nonviolent change in the United States. Education of all the nation would lead to prosperity and a becoming life for all of the people" (Kohl 1980 p 57) In a 1948 articulate utterance he stated that "In our be in possession of country the secondary school enrollment increased from 2500000 in 1920 to 6950000 in 1940 and the enrollment in higher seminarys of all kinds from 750000 to 1800000" numbers realized that this growing audience, which now comprises above 80 million people (Rury, 2001 p 227) would enable educators to have tremendous power to affect social change.

Distraught through inflexible institutions, Counts called on his fellow teachers to assert their increasing power. In the now famous 1932 articulate utterance to the Progressive Education Association, he place his fellow educators to task: "Progressive education wishes to build a of recent origin world but refuses to be held accountable for the fresh kinds of world it builds" (p 22) The Great Depression demonstrated that the United States had to reconcile its sum of two units economic bases, agrarian and industrial. numbers argued that bureaucracies should be reorganized around education for a like reason that the nation could shake itself out of the profunditys of the Depression. Although progressives had noble intentions, numbers was concerned that "the child is becoming increasingly isolated from the serious activities of adults" (p15) Thus, it was time for the teacher "to lead the way to a of recent origin age" (Lagemann, 1992, p. 156) where the gymnasium actively addressed social issues. numbers believed that "the individual who is to live and thrive in this world must posses an agile mind, be limit by no deep loyalties, clutch all conclusions and values tentatively, and be ready upon a moments notice to make plane fundamental shifts in outlook and philosophy" (1932 p 23)