{"id":359,"date":"2019-07-30T19:44:08","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T19:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-education106\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=359"},"modified":"2025-06-18T17:16:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T17:16:54","slug":"8-2-the-competing-goals-of-public-education-a-historical-perspective","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/chapter\/8-2-the-competing-goals-of-public-education-a-historical-perspective\/","title":{"raw":"8.2 The Competing Goals of Public Education: A Historical Perspective","rendered":"8.2 The Competing Goals of Public Education: A Historical Perspective"},"content":{"raw":"<div style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Frontloading Activity<\/h3>\r\n<div style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n\r\nBefore continuing the reading, take some time to review the history of American public education and write on the following questions:\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n<div>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What are one or two goals of public education over the course of American history?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Do the original goals of Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann still inform public policy for education? Why or why not?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n<div>\r\n\r\nDavid\u00a0Labaree\u00a0(1997), an educational historian, argued that\u00a0there have been three overarching goals of public education in the United States since the inception of public education in the 1800\u2019s: 1)\u00a0democratic equality,\u00a02)\u00a0social efficiency, and 3)\u00a0social mobility.\r\n\r\nA\u00a0<strong>democratic equality\u00a0goal<\/strong> aims at educating an engaged citizenry capable of actively participating in a democratic society.\r\n\r\nA\u00a0<strong>social efficiency\u00a0goal<\/strong> aims at educating young people to help the economic success of the country.\r\n\r\nFinally, a\u00a0<strong>social mobility\u00a0goal<\/strong> aims at educating young people\u00a0in order for\u00a0people to \u201cgain a competitive advantage in the struggle for competitive social positions\u201d (p. 42).\r\n\r\nTwo of these goals\u2014democratic equality\u00a0and\u00a0social efficiency\u2014can be defined as public goods, or goods that benefit society as a whole; whereas the\u00a0social mobility\u00a0goal positions education as a private resource, or commodity.\u00a0 Each of these goals,\u00a0Labaree\u00a0argued, tacitly guides the direction of public education policy.\r\n\r\nAt times, these three goals compete against the inherent aims of the other goals, i.e., public goods versus private goods. In some cases, such as\u00a0social mobility, there are internal contradictions within a single goal\u2019s overall aims. For example, families with higher socio-economic status tend to work to protect and ensure their children\u2019s social status, which creates gatekeeping mechanisms to limit access to educational opportunities. However, families in lower socio-economic strata seek to expand equitable access to educational opportunities in order to help advance the economic and social well-being of their children. In either case,\u00a0social mobility\u00a0goals envision education as a private and limited resource.\r\n\r\nTo read Dr. Labaree's original paper follow this link: <a href=\"https:\/\/web.stanford.edu\/~dlabaree\/publications\/Public_Goods_Private_Goods.pdf\">https:\/\/web.stanford.edu\/~dlabaree\/publications\/Public_Goods_Private_Goods.pdf<\/a>\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Key Takeaways<\/h3>\r\nWhat do you see as the goals of public education?\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Frontloading Activity<\/h3>\n<div style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<p>Before continuing the reading, take some time to review the history of American public education and write on the following questions:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>What are one or two goals of public education over the course of American history?<\/li>\n<li>Do the original goals of Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann still inform public policy for education? Why or why not?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<div>\n<p>David\u00a0Labaree\u00a0(1997), an educational historian, argued that\u00a0there have been three overarching goals of public education in the United States since the inception of public education in the 1800\u2019s: 1)\u00a0democratic equality,\u00a02)\u00a0social efficiency, and 3)\u00a0social mobility.<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0<strong>democratic equality\u00a0goal<\/strong> aims at educating an engaged citizenry capable of actively participating in a democratic society.<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0<strong>social efficiency\u00a0goal<\/strong> aims at educating young people to help the economic success of the country.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, a\u00a0<strong>social mobility\u00a0goal<\/strong> aims at educating young people\u00a0in order for\u00a0people to \u201cgain a competitive advantage in the struggle for competitive social positions\u201d (p. 42).<\/p>\n<p>Two of these goals\u2014democratic equality\u00a0and\u00a0social efficiency\u2014can be defined as public goods, or goods that benefit society as a whole; whereas the\u00a0social mobility\u00a0goal positions education as a private resource, or commodity.\u00a0 Each of these goals,\u00a0Labaree\u00a0argued, tacitly guides the direction of public education policy.<\/p>\n<p>At times, these three goals compete against the inherent aims of the other goals, i.e., public goods versus private goods. In some cases, such as\u00a0social mobility, there are internal contradictions within a single goal\u2019s overall aims. For example, families with higher socio-economic status tend to work to protect and ensure their children\u2019s social status, which creates gatekeeping mechanisms to limit access to educational opportunities. However, families in lower socio-economic strata seek to expand equitable access to educational opportunities in order to help advance the economic and social well-being of their children. In either case,\u00a0social mobility\u00a0goals envision education as a private and limited resource.<\/p>\n<p>To read Dr. Labaree&#8217;s original paper follow this link: <a href=\"https:\/\/web.stanford.edu\/~dlabaree\/publications\/Public_Goods_Private_Goods.pdf\">https:\/\/web.stanford.edu\/~dlabaree\/publications\/Public_Goods_Private_Goods.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Key Takeaways<\/h3>\n<p>What do you see as the goals of public education?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-359\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Foundations of Education. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: SUNY Oneonta Education Department. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":85404,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Foundations of Education\",\"author\":\"SUNY Oneonta Education Department\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-359","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":347,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85404"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/359\/revisions\/836"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/347"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/359\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=359"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=359"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-education106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}