I wish it were about that. I understand that some countries' school systems have those goals, and that many succeed at them°, but I don't think my country (US) has ever had enough of "a common base of values/morals, history, and patriotism" for its schools to work that way. Maybe regionally it has at times, but public schools - always to their detriment - have been at the forefront of every "culture war" since their inception.
On the other hand, US schools' form (as distinct from the content they teach) - the schedules, the bells, the desks, the disciplinary expectations - has not been the subject of much debate or wide controversy, but it does encode and enculcate a particular value system. It was adapted from the Prussian model, and specifically intended to create docile industrial workers. That may have been a good idea at the time.
Now, of course, that docile industrial workers are not so economically important, that model doesn't make much sense. The public school system as a whole (I'm painting in broad strokes, and know myself of honorable exceptions) has shifted its purpose to (it's a spectrum, based on prevailing socio-economic conditions, and the individual kids in question) baby-sitting or incarceration.
I wish I weren't so cynical, but I've had too broad an experience with too large a cross-section of too many US public schools not to be.
---
°I've seen the insides of a lot, though not so many, UK schools, and my limited impression is that their system is in a better place than the US, but bears the same flaws. (And that a special hell should await the members of the 2010 Conservative government who promulgated school consolidations.)
Fifteen years ago I taught ESL to a lot of German kids (from both University and non-U tracks), and was highly impressed with them, and with what they told me about their educational system. That impression is old, though, and I don't know how things might have changed in the meantime.
I have a good friend with a six-year old going to school in France. I like what she tells me about their system.
On the other hand, US schools' form (as distinct from the content they teach) - the schedules, the bells, the desks, the disciplinary expectations - has not been the subject of much debate or wide controversy, but it does encode and enculcate a particular value system. It was adapted from the Prussian model, and specifically intended to create docile industrial workers. That may have been a good idea at the time.
Now, of course, that docile industrial workers are not so economically important, that model doesn't make much sense. The public school system as a whole (I'm painting in broad strokes, and know myself of honorable exceptions) has shifted its purpose to (it's a spectrum, based on prevailing socio-economic conditions, and the individual kids in question) baby-sitting or incarceration.
I wish I weren't so cynical, but I've had too broad an experience with too large a cross-section of too many US public schools not to be.
---
°I've seen the insides of a lot, though not so many, UK schools, and my limited impression is that their system is in a better place than the US, but bears the same flaws. (And that a special hell should await the members of the 2010 Conservative government who promulgated school consolidations.)
Fifteen years ago I taught ESL to a lot of German kids (from both University and non-U tracks), and was highly impressed with them, and with what they told me about their educational system. That impression is old, though, and I don't know how things might have changed in the meantime.
I have a good friend with a six-year old going to school in France. I like what she tells me about their system.