The fraught connection between state and school

Public schooling in the 19th century cultivated in students a shared sense of identity as citizens with a common culture. However, posits David Labaree, U.S. schools are less effective than they used to be at serving this purpose, making their value to the nation-state open to questioning. Labaree considers three common functions that public schools serve for the state — legitimacy, economic productivity, and civic community — and questions how well schools serve, or even undermine, these purposes. Schools rely on the state for support, but that support is in danger if systems of schooling promote division and are not perceived as promoting a common good.