Examines the role of ideologies in the history of American education. A case study showing how the Protestant ideology influenced the social outlook and actions of school reformers in the antebellum period of the nineteenth century is included. (AM)

After World War II, America assumed the responsibility for helping to reform Germany's educational system. American educational policy did not have a clear direction; three distinct phases are discernible. (AM)

Between 1945 and 1955, American efforts to reform education in Germany included an initial phase of punitive purges, an imposition of American curricular models, generously endowed reorientation programs, and attempts to persuade the Germans to reform their own system. These contradictory shifts were not the result of rational policy decisions.…

Examines the multidimensional, complex, and dynamic role of educational policy by examining its formation from 1928 to 1934. Concludes that educational policy needs to be understood as an unsettled and changing set of responses by government to the continual interaction among men, forces, ideas, and institutions. (Author/KC)

Examines dominant 20th century liberal philosophy of social and educational reform, discusses research on the topic, criticism engendered, and areas which need more careful and extended inquiry. (Author/KC)