The public conversation on the purposes and future directions of schooling is lively as ever. Alternative visions and voices regarding the broad social aims of schools and the preparation of teachers continue to be presented. Equity issues regarding what constitutes equal treatment of students in the schools continue to be addressed. This year's edition contains articles on the continuing gender issues in the field and on the application of research in multicultural education to the fields of teacher preparation and the in-service staff development of teachers already in the schools. The debate over whether all public monies for education should go to the public schools or whether these funds should follow the student into either public or private schools has again intensified.
Communities are intensely interested in local school politics and school funding issues.
The essays reflect spirited critique as well as spirited defense of our public schools. There are competing, and very differing, school reform agendas being discussed, as has been the case for years now. Democratic publics tend to debate and disagree on important issues affecting public institutions and resources. All of this occurs as the United States continues to experience fundamentally important demographic shifts in its cultural makeup. By the year 2000, it is estimated that 43 percent of the overall student body will be comprised of students from minority cultural backgrounds.