SINCE ITS ORIGINS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, the growth and evolution of public education in America could not go unnoticed or proceed without controversy.¹ Basic questions are now being asked about the purpose and methods of schooling, and the fundamental principles that originated for public edu­cation over 100 years ago have been challenged. A multitude of answers to these difficult and pressing questions have been emerging, from a wide variety of sectors of the public.²