Ideological Management As Educational Philosophy: Reflection on Joel Spring's Analysis of the American School‪.‬

It is no secret that Joel Spring is highly critical of the ideological lens through which modern education has developed. Spring (2005), in his sixth edition of The American School: 1642-2004, coins this lens as ideological management, defined as "the effect of political and economic forces on the ideas disseminated to society" (p. 4). As a result of ideological management, those who have power and wealth in our country shape the current educational system, including parochial schools, and those who do not are still desperately fighting for an equitable education. To use Spring's terminology, the Anglo American use of ideological management through cultural imperialism has been extremely damaging and equally difficult to overcome (p. 3). Victims of the prejudices disseminated throughout American society include, but are certainly not limited to, Native Americans, Irish Catholics, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, Cuban Americans, Jewish Americans, Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, Somali Americans, Hmong Americans, Communist Americans, impoverished Americans, disabled Americans, gay and lesbian Americans, American women, and immigrants of ever-changing national origin.