The future of every society lies with its children. As each generation takes up tasks and responsibilities from the preceding one, its attitudes, expectations, and conduct shape the form society takes. Schools are, in the societies that have them, a central institution preparing young people for their future as workers and citizens. Schools, I would maintain, are more than places where young people are taught knowledge and skills; they are crucibles wherein children are transformed. In doing this schools give direction to our society – they can perpetuate the status quo or create a new future. And this means that those who can control our schools may exert a significant influence on the direction of social changé.

This book is an account of struggles now taking place over public schools in the United States. It is the story of a single school district – the Willow Run Community Schools, in Michigan – but the lessons learned from this one case can, I believe, help us better understand what is happening all over the United States, and abroad as well.

At the same time the book is a reflection on the character of schooling. Schools are so familiar that we take them for granted, but the debates over schooling make it clear that there is much confusion about just how schools work. I believe we currently lack a clear understanding of the psychological and sociological character of schooling – of just how it is that attending school changes a young person's way of engaging the world, changes the kind of person they are.