Knee-Jerk Formalism: Reforming American Education

The education reform movement, whether focused on testing, privatization, better teachers, or more money, whether sponsored by conservatives or liberals, exaggerates the power of education to generate social benefits (for example, good citizens and good workers). Education, including elite schools, is not an autonomous force—the causal relation is from society (social class, corporations, professional associations, social movements, and governments) to school. The only way to get better schools is drastically to improve the life circumstances of the lower classes and to change the curriculum, especially at elite schools, from its present lopsided focus on abstract (academic) subjects to one that explicitly concentrates on turning out knowledgeable citizens and effective workers/professionals.