ABSTRACT
Tinkering with the education system in the United States has always drawn the interest of policymakers and educational reformers as a means of improving society’s social and economic ills (Tyack, 1991). For over a century and a half, Americans have translated their cultural hopes and anxieties into demands for public school reform. In their historical examination of American education, Tyack and Cuban (1995) concluded that people in the United States supported public education because they believed that progress was the rule and that better schooling guaranteed a better society. From the early beginnings of the nation, communities recognized that education played a powerful role in the socialization of children. School committees ensured that the curriculum content taught in the schools functioned to shape the minds of students (Finkelstein, 1978). As Tyack and Cuban (1995) suggested, it was generally easier to coerce the young by teaching reading skills, moral principles, and citizenship than it was to shape the minds of adults. A good example of this was the Americanization movement in the schools during the early 20th century. Schools were used as a means to socialize the children of immigrants to American norms and language.
