Since the founding of the Republic, individuals and educational groups have debated the purposes of education. During the twentieth century, various attempts have been made by scholars and policy makers to create agendas for schooling. Two of the better known are the Commission on Reorganization of Secondary Education's Seven Cardinal Principles of Education (1918) and the National Education Goals (Goals 2000) of 1996. Take a look at the websites below, where these goals are summarized. Compare the goals each group advocated. How are they similar and different, in your opinion? What role does each group perceive that schools play in society? What kinds of citizens are supposed to be created by schools? Do you feel much has changed over the past century in terms of what schools are expected to produce?

• The National Education Goals of Goals 2000
  ( http://www.ed.gov/G2K/ProgRpt96/natgoals.html )



• The Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education (1918)
  ( http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfrnb/cardprin.html )