Socialist Criticisms of Education in the United States: Problems and Possibilities

William Proefriedt examines why classroom teachers have responded unenthusiastically, if not negatively, to socialist criticism of education in the United States. Although essentially in agreement with the socialist critique, he nevertheless points out its shortcomings and the important areas which it has left unexplored. He suggests that a union of the Deweyan tradition of critical thinking and the European sociologists' concern for ideology will foster a philosophy of teaching that is consonant with both the socialist tradition and with the idea that classroom teachers have an active, worthwhile role.