Journal #3 Assignment

The Politics of
American Education

Education is fundamentally political in nature. Turning his distinctive analytical
lens to the politics of American education, Joel Spring looks at contemporary
educational policy issues from theoretical, practical, and historical perspectives.
This comprehensive overview documents and explains who influences educational
policy and how, bringing to life the realities of schooling in the twenty-first century
and revealing the ongoing ideological struggles at play.

Ranging from a theoretical discussion of the political nature of American
education to the nitty-gritty practicalities and complexities of political control at
all levels—local, district, state, and federal—The Politics of American Education
is timely and useful for understanding the big picture and the micro-level intricacies
of the multiple forces at work in controlling U.S. public schools. Joel Spring’s
insightful approach to exploring the politics of education is both unique and
essential.

Features:

• Analyzes the role of media and politicians in shaping public discussions about
education

• Emphasizes the relationship between political parties’ agendas and the
political structure of American schooling

• Focuses on the political uses of schools
• Demonstrates the influence of business, the educational industry, teachers

unions, ideological and religious interest groups and foundations, professional
education organizations, and colleges and departments of education on the
politics of education

• Examines the influence of global organizations on American school policies
• Reports and analyzes the emergence of open-source and other forms of

electronic textbooks vis-à-vis their growing impact on the politics of education

Thought-provoking, lucid, original in its conceptual framework, and rich with
engaging examples from the real world, this is the text of choice for any course
that covers or addresses the politics of American education.

Companion Website: The interactive Companion Website (www.routledge.com/
textbooks/9780415884402) accompanying this text includes relevant data, public
domain documents, YouTube links, links to websites representing political
organizations and interest groups involved in education, and a forum for discussion
of the book’s proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Joel Spring is Professor of Education, Queens College and the Graduate Center of
the City University of New York.

Sociocultural, Political, and Historical Studies in
Education

Joel Spring, Editor

Spring • The Politics of American Education
Smith/Sobel • Place- and Community-based Education in Schools
Spring • Political Agendas for Education: From Change We Can Believe In To Putting America

First, Fourth Edition
Sandlin/McLaren, Eds. • Critical Pedagogies of Consumption: Living and Learning in the Shadow of

the “Shopocalypse”
Shapiro, Ed. • Education and Hope in Troubled Times: Visions of Change for Our Children’s World
Spring • Globalization of Education: An Introduction
Benham, Ed. • Indigenous Educational Models for Contemporary Practice: In Our Mother’s Voice,

Second Edition
Shaker/Heilbrun • Reclaiming Education for Democracy: Thinking Beyond No Child Left Behind
Ogbu, Ed. • Minority Status, Oppositional Culture, and Schooling
Spring • Wheels in the Head: Educational Philosophies of Authority, Freedom, and Culture from

Confucianism to Human Rights, Third Edition
Spring • The Intersection of Cultures: Global Multicultural Education, Fourth Edition
Gabbard, Ed. • Knowledge and Power in the Global Economy: The Effects of School Reform in a

Neoliberal/Neoconservative Age, Second Edition
Spring • A New Paradigm for Global School Systems: Education for a Long and Happy Life
Books, Ed. • Invisible Children in the Society and Its Schools, Third Edition
Spring • Pedagogies of Globalization: The Rise of the Educational Security State
Sidhu • Universities and Globalization: To Market, To Market
Bowers/Apffel-Marglin, Eds. • Rethinking Freire: Globalization and the Environmental Crisis
Reagan • Non-Western Educational Traditions: Indigenous Approaches to Educational Thought

and Practice, Third Edition
Books • Poverty and Schooling in the U.S.: Contexts and Consequences
Shapiro/Purpel, Eds. • Critical Social Issues in American Education: Democracy and Meaning in a

Globalizing World, Third Edition
Spring • How Educational Ideologies are Shaping Global Society: Intergovernmental Organizations,

NGOs, and the Decline of the Nation-State
Lakes/Carter, Eds. • Global Education for Work: Comparative Perspectives on Gender and the

New Economy
Heck • Studying Educational and Social Policy: Theoretical Concepts and Research Methods
Peshkin • Places of Memory: Whiteman’s Schools and Native American Communities
Hemmings • Coming of Age in U.S. High Schools: Economic, Kinship, Religious, and Political

Crosscurrents
Spring • Educating the Consumer-Citizen: A History of the Marriage of Schools, Advertising, and

Media
Ogbu • Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement

Benham/Stein, Eds. • The Renaissance of American Indian Higher Education: Capturing the Dream
Hones, Ed. • American Dreams, Global Visions: Dialogic Teacher Research with Refugee and

Immigrant Families
McCarty • A Place to Be Navajo: Rough Rock and The Struggle for Self-Determination in Indigenous

Schooling
Spring • Globalization and Educational Rights: An Intercivilizational Analysis
Grant/Lei, Eds. • Global Constructions of Multicultural Education: Theories and Realities
Luke • Globalization and Women in Academics: North/West–South/East
Meyer/Boyd, Eds. • Education Between State, Markets, and Civil Society: Comparative Perspectives
Roberts • Remaining and Becoming: Cultural Crosscurrents in an Hispano School
Borman/Stringfield/Slavin, Eds. • Title I: Compensatory Education at the Crossroads
DeCarvalho • Rethinking Family-School Relations: A Critique of Parental Involvement in Schooling
Peshkin • Permissible Advantage?: The Moral Consequences of Elite Schooling
Spring • The Universal Right to Education: Justification, Definition, and Guidelines
Nieto, Ed. • Puerto Rican Students in U.S. Schools
Glander • Origins of Mass Communications Research During the American Cold War: Educational

Effects and Contemporary Implications
Pugach • On the Border of Opportunity: Education, Community, and Language at the U.S.-Mexico

Line
Spring • Education and the Rise of the Global Economy
Benham/Heck • Culture and Educational Policy in Hawai’i: The Silencing of Native Voices
Lipka/Mohatt/The Ciulistet Group • Transforming the Culture of Schools: Yu’pik Eskimo Examples
Weinberg • Asian-American Education: Historical Background and Current Realities
Nespor • Tangled Up in School: Politics, Space, Bodies, and Signs in the Educational Process
Peshkin • Places of Memory: Whiteman’s Schools and Native American Communities
Spring • The Cultural Transformation of a Native American Family and Its Tribe 1763–1995

For additional information on titles in the Sociocultural, Political, and Historical Studies in Education
series visit www.routledge.com/education

The Politics of
American Education

Joel Spring
Queens College and Graduate Center
City University of New York

First published 2011
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2011 Taylor & Francis

The right of Joel Spring to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Spring, Joel H.
The politics of American education / Joel Spring.

p. cm.
1. Education—Effect of technological innovations on—United
States. 2. Educational technology—Government policy—United
States. 3. Public schools—United States. 4. Education and
state—United States. 5. Technology and state—United States.
I. Title.
LB1028.3.S64 2011
379.73—dc22 2010024884

ISBN 13: 978–0–415–88439–6 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–415–88440–2 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–203–83899–0 (ebk)

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.

To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.

ISBN 0-203-83899-8 Master e-book ISBN

Contents

Preface xi

1 Introduction: The Politics of Education and the Politics
of Knowledge 1

Educational Governance and Competing Voices 2
What Do People Talk About When They Talk About

Schools? 2
From the Local to the Global in School Governance 3
Civil Society and Schooling 4
Politicians and Educational Ideologies 4
The Education : Making Money and Influencing

Schools 4
Politics of School and the Economics of

Education 5
Global Education Politics and the United States 6
Human Capital: Dominant Global Education Ideology 6
The Human Capital Education Paradigm 11
Conclusion: Questions 12

2 What Do People Talk About When They Talk About
Schools? 15

What Do Politicians Talk About When They Talk About
Schools? 16

What Does the Media Talk About When It Talks About
Schools? 18

What Do Parents Talk About When They Talk About
Schools? 20

What Do the World’s Richest Man and Foundation Talk
About When They Talk About Schools? 22

What Do Teachers Talk About When They Talk About
Schools? 30

What Do School Administrators Talk About When They
Talk About Schools? 35

What Do Black and Latino Educators Talk About When
They Talk About Schools? 37

What Do Students Talk About When They Talk About
Schools? 41

Conclusion: So What Do People Talk About When They
Talk About Schools? 43

3 From the Local to the Global in School Governance 51

Forms of Representation 52
State Governance 53
Federal Government 62
Federal Influence and the Race to the Top 65
Local Control: School Boards 68
Local Control: Mayoral Governance 70
Patterns in Local Politics of Education 72
Dominated Communities 72
Factional Communities 73
Pluralistic Communities 75
Inert Communities 75
Summary: Educational Governance in the United

States 76
Global Influences 77
Civil Society 78
Conclusion: School Governance and Ideology 79

4 Civil Society and Schooling 84

Power, Money, and Civil Society 86
Types of Associations 87
Special Interest Groups 89
Foundations and Think Tanks: America’s Shadow

Government 95
Foundations as Shadow Educational Policy-Makers 96
Think Tanks as Shadow Educational Policy-Makers 102
Professional Organizations 108
Teachers Unions 110
Conclusion: A Thousand Points of Light 113

5 Politicians and Educational Ideologies 118

Cultural Conservatism and American
Exceptionalism 120

Liberal Cultural Values and Multiculturalism 124

viii Contents

Cultural Conservatives, Moral Instruction, and
Evolution 129

Cultural Liberals and Moral Values 131
Free Markets and School Choice 132
Liberals and Regulated Markets 134
Cultural Conservatives: Poverty is a Matter of Character

in a Free Market 137
Cultural Liberals: Poverty and Equal Educational

Opportunity 141
Conclusion: Human Capital and Alternative

Ideologies 143

6 The Education : Making Money and Influencing
Schools 150

The Publishing Industry, Texas, and Open-Source Texts 154
Texas’ Politics and Textbook Publishing 155
The Politics of Open-Source Textbooks 161
For-Profit and Franchised Educational Services 165
Educational Management Organizations: Charter

Schools 168
Supplementary Education Services: The Shadow

Education System 172
Franchising the Shadow Education System 174
Multinational Testing Corporations 176
Conclusion: Ideology and the Education 177

7 Politics of School and the Economics of Education 183

Does Money Matter? 184
Economic Self-Interest and School 186
The Politics of Unequal Funding and School 188
Judicial Involvement in School : Equity 190
Judicial Involvement in School : Adequacy 191
Federal, State, and Local Spending on Education 192
Financial Crisis: How Should Educational Monies Be

Distributed? 193
Educational Administrators 195
Teachers 197
Framework for Understanding the Politics of School

198
Who Should Pay? 198
How Should Educational Monies Be Distributed? 201
How Should Money for Education Be Collected? 202
How Much Money Should Be Spent on Education? 205

Contents ix

School in a Global Context 207
The Economics of Schooling in the Global Labor

Market 208
Conclusion 211

8 Global Education Politics and the United States 216

Benchmarking Global Standards and Tests 216
Global Academic Olympics: OECD and the International

Association for the Evaluation of Educational
Achievement (IEA) 219

The World Bank: Human Capital in Developing
Nations 223

United Nations and the World Bank: Global Networks 225
Millennium Goals, Global Networks, and Human

Capital Education 227
Brain Gain and Brain Drain: Human Capital and

Multiculturalism 228
The Global Education 235
Conclusion: The Global Cloud 241

9 Political Control of Education in a Democratic Society:
Proposal for Amendment to U.S. Constitution 251

The Problem of Majority Rule 253
The Power of Special Interest Groups 254
The Political Use of Schools 256
Education Amendment to U.S. Constitution 257
Conclusion: Globalization and National Systems of

Education 263

Index 265

x Contents

Preface

My intention is to provide a guide to the complex world of U.S.
educational politics.

As explained in Chapter 1, the dominant ideology now driving
American schools is human capital education, which has the goal of using
schools to grow the economy and educate workers for economic com-
petition in global markets. This ideology is focused on business concepts
of accountability and seeks to achieve its goals through curriculum
standards and testing, and packaged or scripted teaching methods designed
as test preparation.

As I describe in Chapter 2, voices heard from civil society groups are
often conflicting, ranging from parental satisfaction with local schools to
politicians claiming schools are failing.

I use the term “complex” because, as discussed in Chapter 3, the formal
structure of school governance encompasses a myriad of politicians and
government officials working in federal, state, and local school district
offices.

As explained in Chapter 4, this formal organization is inundated by
pleas and pressure from a civil society that includes teachers unions,
religious groups, administrative organizations, business interests, think
tanks and foundations, parents, and other special interest groups.

In Chapter 5 I focus on the role of politicians and education ideologies
in influencing and determining education policies. By ideology I mean
a particular set of interlinked ideas about what should be the goals,
curriculum, and instructional methods of American schools.

Another important influence, which I describe in Chapter 6, is the
education business, which encompasses textbook publishers, test
producers, tutoring and test preparation companies, charter school
management companies, for-profit schools, online schooling, software
makers, and a host of other supporting industries. Since education is
mainly government funded these companies want to influence the adop-
tion of school policies that will increase their profits. In addition, special
interest groups, as illustrated in Chapter 6 by the textbook controversies

in Texas, want their pet ideas disseminated through textbooks and other
school materials.

Who is going to pay and who is going to benefit from the tax monies
raised for education by local, state, and federal governments? In Chapter
7, I look at the political issues surrounding school financing including:
Will more money for schools make a difference? Why are there rich and
poor school districts? Can court decisions lead to equality of educational
opportunity? Who should pay? How should educational monies be
distributed? How should money for education be collected? How much
money should be spent on education?

Today, as I discuss in Chapter 8, American schools are nested in a
global education structure. Currently, the federal government is
benchmarking school standards and tests against international tests, such
as PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), PIRLS (Progress
in International Reading Literacy), and TIMSS (Trends in International
Mathematics and Science Study). These tests are often referred to as the
Global Academic Olympics, with national scores considered indications
of the quality of local schools. These tests are developed and distributed
by two global groups: the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) and the International Association for the
Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Also, education asso-
ciations and government education officials share ideas in global settings.
In addition, the education business is global, with test makers, tutorial
and test preparation services, for-profit schools, online instruction
companies, publishers, and other education services selling their products
in a global market.

How does the governance structure of schools affect the workings of a
democratic society? In Chapter 9, I consider theoretical issues regarding
the control of the dissemination of knowledge through schools and its
effect on decisions made by voters in a democratic society. What is the
best governance structure for ensuring that schools educate informed and
thoughtful voters? In conclusion, I propose an education amendment to
the U.S. Constitution. This proposed amendment will raise many questions
in the reader’s mind about the relationship between schools, freedom of
ideas, the role of teachers, and the protection of cultural and linguistic
minorities.

xii Preface

Introduction
The Politics of Education
and the Politics of Knowledge

The politics of education explores one aspect of the general field of the
politics of knowledge which is concerned with how knowledge is created
and disseminated. Schools, along with the media, libraries, and the
Internet, are central to the process of disseminating knowledge to
the public. All aspects of the politics of education involve knowledge
dissemination, including the governance structure of schools; media
portrayal of educational issues; politicians; parents and parent organiza-
tions; special interest groups; foundations and think tanks; professional
organizations; teachers unions; and the education industry.

The politics of education involves power struggles over three important
questions:

• What knowledge is most worth teaching?
• What are the best instructional methods and school organization for

teaching this knowledge?
• What should it cost to disseminate this knowledge?

The first question deals with the school curriculum and the politics
of knowledge. The second question deals with teaching methods and
school governance including highly debated topics such as choice, scripted
lessons, progressive instructional methods, home schooling, charter
schools, and a host of other issues. And the third question deals with
how much a society is willing to spend on education; how money should
be collected to support schools; and how money should be spent on
education. The answers to these three questions elicit differing educational
agendas from individuals and groups. These agendas provide the substance
for potential political debates. These debates occur within a complex
educational governance structure whose parameters are the world.

Chapter 1

Educational Governance and Competing
Voices

In the United States, the educational governance structure embraces politi-
cal units ranging from the U.S. Congress and U.S. Department of
Education to state governments to local school districts. In addition, there
are many professional, business, political, special interest, and other
organizations trying to influence what is taught in schools, how it is taught,
and how much it will cost. In addition, as I explain in this book, many
aspects of schooling are now globalized, including nations having similar
educational ladders leading from primary school to post-secondary
education; using the same international tests to compare their schools with
other nations; and having the same educational goal of economic growth
and supplying workers for global economic competition. Educational
policies are also globalized through international organizations like the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, United
Nations, and the World Bank. In general, educational professional organ-
izations are international and provide opportunities for the global
exchange of ideas. The educational landscape is dominated by multi-
national corporations which publish school materials and standardized
tests, produce software, and manage for-profit schools and tutoring
facilities. The scores from international science and math tests pit country
against country as each country tries to win the knowledge race in the
global economy.

What Do People Talk About When They Talk
About Schools?

In Chapter 2, I will discuss the range of conflicting opinions about public
schools, including those of parents, students, teachers, school admin-
istrators, foundations, interest groups, politicians, and the media. National
media primarily and uncritically report the opinions of politicians who
claim schools are failing and want to implement economic goals for
education. In contrast, as discussed in Chapter 2, parents feel that their
local schools are doing a good job. Also, school administrators stress
the importance of outside factors affecting school achievement such as
children’s poverty and health care, racial and economic segregation
between and within schools, and the lack of bilingual teachers. Many
teachers and students object to the current emphasis on standardized
testing. Students want classes that are interesting and teachers who
personalize their teaching methods, and a reduced reliance on standardized
testing to measure learning. One question that emerges from Chapter 2
is why some voices are more influential than others in determining school
policies.

2 Introduction

For decades, politicians have harped on the role of education in
preparing students for work or college. However, the media seldom report
parental reaction to these statements. Today, a majority of politicians say
that the curriculum should be organized to ensure American economic
development in a global system and should prepare students to compete
in a global labor market. While there are polls showing parental
satisfaction with their local schools, I could not find one showing that
parents want the public school curriculum designed to advance the United
States in global economic competition. Maybe most parents do want the
curriculum to be determined by the requirements of global economic
competition. The important issue is that most parents and students were
never asked and there is no direct way they can express their wishes. They
can act indirectly by voting for school board members and state and
federal representatives or by joining a politically active special interest
group.

What educational ideas are espoused by these conflicting voices? Many
politicians talk about educating students so that the U.S. economy can
grow and compete globally. These same politicians want a test-driven
school system where students, teachers, schools, school systems, states,
and even national school systems are judged by the results of standardized
testing. As noted in Chapter 2, only politicians, the wealthy, and some
educators support assessment as the key to good schooling. Most students,
teachers, and school administrators think this is a bad idea and believe
other factors are more important. Their voices don’t seem to be heard by
those making the decisions about schools, or if they are heard they are
ignored. Parents, students, teachers, and school administrators espouse a
diversity of educational ideas that are often in conflict with economic-
oriented school policies.

From the Local to the Global in School
Governance

Chapter 3 outlines the political arena in which public voices try to be
heard. The chapter describes the complex structure of American schools
from local school boards to state governance to federal power, along with
a consideration of the political role of civil society and global influences.
The chapter stresses the growing nationalization and centralization of
decision-making. The growing centralization of educational control has
occurred over time, particularly with the advent of federal categorical aid
in the 1950s. Federal aid linked school policies to national policy
objectives. For instance, No Child Left Behind strengthened the power of
state education authorities over local schools. With federal demands in
recent times to internationally benchmark standards and tests, the decision
over the content of the curriculum has been moved to a global arena.

Introduction 3

Civil Society and Schooling

Within the political arena described in Chapter 3, America’s civil society
tries to influence educational policies. Civil society, as discussed in Chapter
4, is composed of special interest groups, professional organizations,
teachers unions, foundations, and think tanks. American civil society has
been traditionally organized around the religious principles of community
service and a competitive marketplace of self-interested groups. However,
some members of civil society have more money and connections than
others and, therefore, are more influential. For instance, the funding and
policy reports from the world’s richest foundation, the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, are currently having a significant impact on American
school policies.

Politicians and Educational Ideologies*

Civil society organizations and politicians espouse a wide variety of
educational ideas that impact school policies. As I describe in Chapter 5,
these differing educational ideas encompass human capital economics;
liberal and conservative cultural ideals; a belief in American excep-
tionalism; free market economics; regulated markets; multiculturalism and
multilingualism; English-only; liberal and conservative religious values;
progressive education; environmentalism; and arts-based schools.

However, the majority of liberal and conservative Democrats and
Republican politicians espouse the goals of human capital education, with
variations in their educational agendas reflecting differing cultural values.
As I explain in more detail in the last sections of this introductory chapter,
human capital education is premised on the idea that investment in
education will grow the economy and provide educated workers to help
the nation compete in the global knowledge economy.

The Education : Making Money and
Influencing Schools

Education businesses influence school politics in a quest for profits which
are in part dependent on government outlays for textbooks, software,
equipment, tutoring services, and charter schools. Education is big
business! In Chapter 6, I discuss the politics of publishing and political
influences on textbooks; for-profit and franchised educational services;
testing corporations; educational management companies; and supple-
mentary education services. No Child Left Behind provides funds to hire

4 Introduction

* I am using the term ideology to mean an integrated set of ideas that guide practice.

for-profit companies to provide supplementary education services to
schools identified as needing improvement or restructuring. Supplementary
education services provide tutoring and classes for remediation and
for test preparation or, in the polite language of industry, achievement
enhancement. Globally these services are referred to as the shadow educa-
tion system, which ranges from cram schools in Japan to Sylvan Learning
Centers in the United States.

Human capital ideology supports the educational policies that will
maximize profits for education businesses. It supports the testing
companies and the shadow education industry because of the ideology’s
emphasis on high-stakes testing to promote and sort students for careers
and higher education and for evaluating teachers and school admin-
istrators. Because schools put testing pressure on students, parents are
willing to fork out extra money to the shadow education industry.
Consequently, the shadow education system and multinational …