The Revisionists’ Critique of the Education Reform Reports

Abstract

While the education reform reports of the 1980s and 1990s indicted public schools for both failing the nation's youth and economy, the revisionists, a group of eminent scholars and researchers, challenged their assumptions and confronted critics with empirical evidence that demonstrated that schools were in better condition than reported. Although the evidence confirmed that the crisis in American education was manufactured, the public ignored their arguments. This suggests that the reform reports had less to do with their substance than with affirming the nation's belief that education can help solve pressing national problems, promote social continuity, and convey a sense that the nation's future is within the bounds of human control.