During the early twentieth century there were many major participants in the politics of education, such as the American Legion, that tried to eliminate radical ideas from public schools who believed that schools taught conservative economic doctrines. The “radical” teachers’ unions wanted to enforce a more liberal agenda for schools where these institutions were to serve as tools working towards social reconstruction of society (pg 299). This soon became a strain for many teachers because while they were trying to preserve their employment conditions, those in the administrative positions labeled them as unprofessional. Although these teachers were being innovative for the betterment of the students, anyone who opposed the administrative control was seen as unethical.
Later, the chapter discussed how there was an increasing amount of federal government involvement in education due to the accumulative amount of students behaving immorally. Campaigns such as the American Way were designed to introduce particular economic ideas into school curricula. These propagandas were used to control public opinion by trying to stimulate innovation within the American economy to its students by suggesting that “there is no other way than the American way”. Advertising is the books we read and even the media we look at and hear involuntarily. How do propagandas such as the ones discussed in the chapter affect students and their education? Should textbook censorship be allowed? Why or why not? How does this affect a child’s education?
