Thunder on The Right: Education and the Ideology of The Quick Fix

Abstract

In the aftermath of the recent spate of national reports indicting the state of American schooling, a national debate is emerging to sort out the nature of the education 'crisis' and to provide a set of possible solutions. One such debate, jointly sponsored by the Bureau of National Affairs, the Institute for Educational Leadership, and Harvard Educational Review, brought together in a recent two day national conference a number of government spokespersons, national educators, and prominent political leaders. The conference titled, EDUCATION, PUBLIC POLICY, AND THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION, revealed some deep divisions among the participants regarding both the problems facing public schools as well as the role the federal government should play in resolving them. While no consensus emerged in the two days of heated debate, it became clear that beneath the rhetoric and insights offered by the various participants, a number of ideological and political issues emerged that portend some of the struggles slowly developing around the crisis in education. The most important issues discussed at the Washington conference focused on the current state of public education, the role of federal policy in education, and the relationship between schooling and the imperatives of a high technology future. The various perspectives that emerged in the debate split primarily over political and ideological considerations. On the one hand, there was a political division between those spokespersons representing President Reagan's position and those opposed to official government policy. On the other hand, there were ideological conflicts centering primarily around the steps that should be taken to reform the nature of public education; this debate was waged primarily among political moderates and liberals, with a small number of leftist critics adding to the foray. In most instances, the questions raised as well as the solutions offered stayed within a relatively traditional educational framework.