Overview
In this new and expanded edition of his highly influential book Official Knowledge, Michael Apple analyzes the Right's attempt to gain a stronghold in education through the forces of commercialization, privatization, standardization, and a return to the romantic past. He shows how conservatives are radically changing our ideas about what education is and who it should serve. Apple assesses the impact of rightist educational policies by documenting the daily efforts of teachers struggling to accomplish more democratic ends. With a rich mixture of deep concern and real hope, Official Knowledge is essential reading for all who care about teaching our children.Synopsis
A powerful examination of the rightist resurgence in education and the challenges it presents to concerned educators, Official Knowledge analyzes the effects of conservative beliefs and strategies on educational policy and practice. Apple looks specifically at the conservative agenda's incursion into education through the curriculum, textbook adoption policies and the efforts of the private and business sectors to centralize its interests within schools. At the same time, however, he points out areas of hope for the future, showing how students and teachers have continued the struggle and are now successfully engaged in building more democratic education policies and practices. Finally, Apple writes in personal terms about his own teaching techniques and work with students which challenge some of the ideological and educational policies and practices of the Right.