EDUCATION, MODERNITY AND NEO-CONSERVATIVE SCHOOL-REFORM IN CANADA, BRITAIN AND THE UNITED-STATES

Conservative critiques of education and proposals for reform show stri king similarities in Canada, Britain and the US. All seem to reflect w hat Habermas referred to as ''the affirmative stance towards social mo dernity and the denigration of cultural modernity''. The paper uses th is distinction to describe and analyse New Right criticisms of educati onal progressivism and conservative efforts to promote a new sympathy for business values, market discipline and market relations in schools and colleges.