Making Public School Business Like...Again

This article demonstrates recent declines in commitments to civic education as a legitimate goal for public schooling. The author shows that although the rhetoric supporting civic education abounds, educating democratic citizens remains a low priority in relation to other educational concerns. Business-inspired reforms, Cuban argues, fueled by a strong belief in connections between schooling and a strong economy have resulted in the constricting of public school goals from broadly democratic to narrowly economic. Traditional public school goals of building literate citizens able to participate in democratic affairs of the community and the state have been supplanted by near exclusive concern for producing workers for the labor market. Cuban asserts that linking test scores to worker productivity or the national economy is a flawed calculus of school goals. The article calls for educators to ensure that democratic civic education remains a goal for public schools.