A Historian Looks at the American High School

Chapter III: The School Program: Aims of Secondary Education

“…is the first responsibility of the schools." The Chicago Conference (11) reiterated this stand in the papers of Chase (10), Commager (12), Kimpton (27), and Tyler (52).…”

“…Commager (12) documented the success of the American high school in meeting nonacademic nineteenth-century goals and pointed to need for new objectives recognizing the lengthened period of professional training, lessened vocational needs, and the educative forces of mass media and other opinion-shaping agencies. His analysis of the school's undue emphasis on instilling patriotism, a holdover from a time when Americanization of an immigrant population seemed valid as national policy, was supported by Skaurud (47), whose study of trends during the last half-century indicated that a major goal in the study of history was development of a desire for the democratic way of life.…”

“…The dangers of relying too heavily on lay opinion for educational direction were reported by Riesman (43) and Commager (12), who saw objectives thus derived as functioning only to perpetuate the status quo. Specifically, Deam (16) found a 20-percent sample of Virginia school-board members more conservative than social science teachers in setting the limits for discussing controversial issues with students.…”

The School Program: Aims of Secondary Education

“…The Chicago Conference (11) reiterated this stand in the papers of Chase (10), Commager (12), Kimpton (27), and Tyler (52). The 1955 White House Conference on Education (38) charged school boards to study the problem of priorities, and the Committee recorded its belief that "the development of intellectual powers ... is the first responsibility of the schools."…”

“…Observing the encroachment of mass society and its tastes on the functions of the high school, Riesman (43) Commager (12) documented the success of the American high school in meeting nonacademic nineteenth-century goals and pointed to need for new objectives recognizing the lengthened period of professional training, lessened vocational needs, and the educative forces of mass media and other opinion-shaping agencies. His analysis of the school's undue emphasis on instilling patriotism, a holdover from a time when Americanization of an immigrant population seemed valid as national policy, was supported by Skaurud (47), whose study of trends during the last half-century indicated that a major goal in the study of history was development of a desire for the democratic way of life.…”