We should ask that the curriculum challenge our young people to imagine a better world and to try out ways of making it so. We should ask that it bring them justice and equity, that it help them to overcome the narrow prejudices still so evident in our society. We should ask that the curriculum serve the best interests of our young people and our democracy and not be implicated in the ambitions of politicians or the profits desires of the corporate marketplace. Henry A. Giroux Oct. 1998, Vol. From the management of public schools to the very content of the curriculum, corporate values threaten the democratic purposes of education.
Schools are an important indicator of the well- being of a democratic society.
They remind us of the civic values that must be passed on to young people in order for them to think critically, to participate in policy decisions that affect their lives, and to transform the racial, social, and economic inequities that close down democratic social relations. Yet as crucial as public schooling has been in American history, schools face an unprecedented attack from those who strongly advocate the unparalleled expansion of corporate culture, this author states. In the face of corporate takeovers, the ongoing commercialization of the curriculum, and the growing interest in students as consumers rather than citizens, educators must reassert the crucial importance of public education. Talking to the Public about Public Schools Adam Kernan-Schloss and Andy Plattner Oct. 1998, Vol. 18-23 Educators must become better communicators if they are to gain more public support for public schools.