ABSTRACT
One of the central problems in discussing schooling is that in an era of universal, public education in this country, schools are so familiar that teachers, students, parents, and the general public all take the apparatus of education for granted. What education is, and should be, is simply an expected and common part of our culture. By spending thousands of hours in school, almost everyone becomes an “expert” on education. Tests, 42-minute class periods, bells, homework, hall passes, Carnegie units, and all the minutiae of education are simply considered the natural elements of education. It is hard to imagine that schooling could be any different from what it is today and what it has been in all the collective biographies of America’s many citizens. Whether in casual conversation or heated political debate, individuals who would never speak authoritatively about how best to remove an appendix, prepare taxes, or install a new electrical grid in their neighborhoods rarely hesitate to register an opinion about how education should be handled.
