Examines the political (public consensus) and nonpolitical authority as a basis for values education in a democratic society. Advocates that nonpolitical authority can be a basis for defending the teaching of values in public schools. (Author)

At the beginning of what was to be the turbulent sixties, the Quarterly published the following article on the condition of the secondary school by Professor Harry S. Broudy. It, like other articles that appeared earlier, speaks again of "selectivity" and "social purposes." Fifteen years later its ideas remain fresh. (Editor)

Argues that unless there is a general agreement in society about the purpose of education, until the school can control the factors that determine success, and until the school can ask all children to enter a common cultural tradition, the school can only respond to the demand for accountability by pleading impotence or by shifting it to those who…

Delineates four uses of schooling: replicative (rote), applied, associative, and interpretive learning. Argues that on the first two uses, by which schooling is ordinarily judged, the curriculum fails. Calls on curriculum researchers to demonstrate the school's role in developing the associative and interpretive uses of knowledge necessary to…

Three major areas of confrontation within the educational system stem from power shifts taking place within the social system as a whole. The taxpayer's revolt against increased school expenditures as juxtaposed to teachers' collective demands for salary increases forms the nucleus of one major confrontation area. Secondly, urban schools face a…

Discusses instances of federal intervention in education that failed to live up to expectations (support of curriculum reform in the 1960s, civil rights legislation, and equity policy). Suggests that the success of such interventions depends on (1) understanding of the causes underlying the problem under consideration, and (2) relevance of…