Public Goods, Private Goods: The American Struggle Over Educational Goals

Abstract

This article explores three alternative goals for American education that have been at the root of educational conflicts over the years: democratic equality (schools should focus on preparing citizens), social efficiency (they should focus on training workers), and social mobility (they should prepare individuals to compete for social positions). These goals represent, respectively, the educational perspective of the citizen, the taxpayer, and the consumer. Whereas the first two look on education as a public good, the third sees it as a private good. Historical conflict over these competing visions of education has resulted in a contradictory structure for the educational system that has sharply impaired its effectiveness. More important still has been the growing domination of the social mobility goal, which has reshaped education into a commodity for the purposes of status attainment and has elevated the pursuit of credentials over the acquisition of knowledge.

Quantitative Literacy for the Future Flourishing of our Students: A Guiding Aim for Mathematics Education

“…Coursework in mathematics is readily offered by most schools, though its equitable accessibility is contentious (Berry 2008). But with or without access to mathematics courses, most students are less likely to be able to focus on courses in subjects such as art, geography, or sociology, among many others, should they desire to do so (Labaree 2014). I leave it to the reader to ponder what might replace four years of mandatory high-school mathematics for students; they might engage in discovering psychology, sociology, human geography, and philosophy, among a host of other disciplines, all of which would aid in directly developing students' reasoning and communication skills-skills many equate as an inherent reason for learning mathematics.…”

“…However, not all careers require mathematics skill. Instead, for many careers success in coursework is simply exchanged for status and pay (i.e., objective goods) (Labaree 1997(Labaree , 2014Williams 2012). This is especially true in learning mathematics, where competency in the discipline often permits one to enter university (through one's SAT scores), exit university (through general education requirements), and even obtain a job (through one's GPA), completing significant, status-earning tasks that-in and of themselveshave no significant relation to the mathematics itself.…”

The Game Plan: Four Contradictions in the Development of World Class Universities from the Global South

“…No doubt such practice has its merits in improving the quality of teaching and research, but it gives a particular signal to internal members of the universities. A useful concept for us to understand the implications in looking out is the distinction between "use value" and "exchange value" in the education world (Labaree, 1997a;1997b). Education programs have use value if its constituency believes the content it offers to be intrinsically useful.…”

Educational Inequality: An Impediment to True Democracy in the United States

“…Democracy, public education, social mobility, racial inequality, socioeconomic inequality Public education is a constructive mechanism that prepares children for citizenship and educates them to live in a healthy civic society, and to foster a nation with democracy (Hochschild and Scovronick 2003;Gutmann 1999;Labaree 1997). The early framework of the democratic purpose of education was associated with the public good and aimed to promote the formation of moral character in citizens of the United States (J. Goodland, Mantle-Bromley, and S. The goals of public schooling are to give to every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own business, to know his rights and exercise with order and justice those he retains, and in general to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed.…”

“…In addition, education has long been seen as a powerful force with the potential to increase opportunity and promote social mobility. The meanings of democratic equality often include citizenship training, equal treatment, and equal access (Biesta 2010;Labaree 1997;Nieto 2005). Equal access for education also lies at the heart of the American dream (Allen and Reich 2013;Hochschild 1996).…”