Public Education and "Special Interest": An Example from the History of Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

ALTHOUGH THE RELATION between the public schools and the public is one of the persistent themes in American educational debate, the character of this relation is far from self-evident. In part, the problem lies in the two broad styles of discussion concerning the publicness of public education: the public is sometimes viewed as a whole, as the raison d'etre, source of virtue, mainstay of support (or rightful mainstay which sometimes withholds its support) for the public schools; and sometimes the public is viewed in a fragmented fashion, as a series of groups, either totally comprising the public or over and against the public as a whole. This second conception is particularly prominent in the puzzled and defensive rhetoric of educators who see the public school as a citadel under constant attack from a series of pressure groups. The image of the embattled school is linked, on one side, with the argument for the school's broad mission, the need to serve the American public (nation) in its historic march toward the realization of democracy and full participation in the good life. Here one finds the venerable argument-waxing and waning, but still present-that the school can never create a better future if it is continually assailed by the special interests of religious, political, or economic groups. (i) On the other hand, the image of the embattled school is closely connected to the chronic worry about professionalization; if every group can have a voice in the conduct of the schools, it is claimed, profession-