Although some critics of public education are now questioning the value of compulsory schooling for all children, this concept is deeply ingrained in American history and social values. The first compulsory education law in this country was enacted in 1642 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritan notion of education as a moral, social…

Several variants of the "melting pot" ideology have informed the actions of those responsible for educational policy-making in the United States. This ideology has increasingly come under attack by a variety of persons. The purpose of this paper is to outline several legal grounds on which this ideology has been and will be challenged and to spell…

This is the fourth of a series of Capsule Bibliographies on current issues in urban and minority education. It is a selection from a computer search using suitable descriptors matched against a standard Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) Clearinghouse profile for urban and minority concepts. Such descriptors (subject headings) as…