Americans than education. The two subjects have at least one thing in common~endur- ing controversy among the special- ists.

In Schooled to Order: A Social History of Public Schooling in the United States (Oxford, 1979), David Nasaw sums up the current "radi- cal" critique of education: "Public schools are social institutions dedi- cated not to meeting the self-perceived needs of their students but to preserving social peace and pros- perity within the context of private property a...