Education's Elusive Future, Storied Past, and the Fundamental Inequities Between

Abstract:     
This article situates current educational realities and reforms within a broader historical context and argues we are at the end of a period of retrenchment and currently in a transitional phase that could usher in a new era of opportunity expansion. However, none of the current reform proposals are capable of seizing this opportunity. Each of the current reforms suffers from one of two flaws: a refusal to take seriously the lessons of past reform efforts or an insistance that we do more of the same. The task of educational reform is, first, to appreciate that, based on historical cycles, the opportunity for significant change is possible in the near future and, second, to redouble efforts to develop theoretical frameworks that can animate a new era.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 51

Keywords: education, equal education opportunity, segregation, poverty, school finance, jim crow, brown v board of education, charter schools, no child left behind, elementary and secondary education act, standardized testing, civil rights, education rights, historical forces, education reform

Accepted Paper Series