A School for the Common Good A School for the Common Good

The proponents of the common school were seeking the nur-ture of a common core of sentiment, of value, and of practice within which pluralism would not become anarchy. They were seeking, in a sense, a means of constant regeneration whereby the inevitable inequities arising out of freedom would not from generation to generation become destructive of its very sources.... They were seeking to build and inculcate a sense of com-munity which would function, not at the expense of individual-ism, but rather as a firm framework within which individuality might be most effectively preserved. —Lawrence A. Cremin, The American Common School The Common School Movement reformers of the 1850s envisionedschools that would serve as linchpins of the community. Theywere to be tuition free and open to everyone, places “where the rich and the poor meet together on equal terms,where high and low are taught in the same house, the same class, and out of the same book, and by the same teacher ” (Taylor 1837). In the nineteenth century, it was assumed that good schools were essential to the survival of democracy. After all, a government “of the people, by the people, for the people ” meant that the future would be determined by the collective wisdom and character of the citizenry. Although schools have yet to evolve into the kind of Utopian institutions that reformers envisioned, common-school ideals still resonate with many of us today. For example, President Bush was invoking the com-mon-school ideal of learning as a transformative experience when he stated at last year’s National Teacher of the Year ceremonies: “When young people become good students with big dreams, they become bet-ter citizens. Our country is better off as a result of our teachers instilling passion and hope ” (Bush 2005)