Educational Policy and Federal Intervention in the “Days of Opportunity”

Abstract

This paper examines some of the origins of federal intervention in education starting with events and social forces precipitated by World War II and culminating in the federal programs of the sixties. From this perspective one can see as an overarching value in federal policy the necessity of breaking down barriers between the schools and other segments of society. Although this value was articulated with varying degrees of clarity, the conceptual issues surrounding its implementation were not. We were unprepared to deal with these conceptual issues. Obstacles, then and now, to clarification and implementation of the overarching value are discussed and illustrated. In regards to clarification and implementation the future picture is not an encouraging one. The suggestion is made that an examination of the constitutional basis for many of our “credentialling” processes and criteria may be a potent stimulus to education reform (Note 1).