Conservative Battles for Public Education within America's Culture Wars: poignant lessons for today from the red scare of the 1950s

Authors: FOSTER, STUART¹; JR, O. L. DAVIS,¹

Source: London Review of Education, Volume 2, Number 2, July 2004 , pp. 123-135(13)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Key:

- Free Content

- New Content

- Subscribed Content

- Free Trial Content

Abstract:

Historically public schools and public school teachers have been obvious targets for attacks by conservative critics. However, during the post World War II red scare, the rapid emergence of anti-communist sentiment and super-patriotic zeal dramatically increased their vulnerability. In many respects the arch conservatism of the 1950s has obvious parallels with political trends in American education this century. As in the 1950s, contemporary pressures by well-organised and powerful conservative groups, ‘think tanks', politicians, and economic interests have been particularly successful in influencing educational policy and practice on a wide range of issues. Attention to the educational context of the 1950s, therefore, reasonably offers contemporary educators important historical insights into the ways in which socio-political forces profoundly shape and dramatically influence educational policy and practice.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/1474846042000229467

Affiliations: 1: The University of Texas at Austin, USA

The full text electronic article is available for purchase. You will be able to download the full text electronic article after payment.

$38.49 plus tax Refund Policy