The U.S. public school system has always aimed at producing subordinate adults.

Evidence

Our argument in this section is simple enough: Since its inception in the United States, the public-school system has been seen as a method of disciplining children in the interest of producing a properly subordinate adult population. Sometimes conscious and explicit, and at other times a natural emanation from the conditions of dominance and subordinacy prevalent in the economic sphere, the theme of social control pervades educational thought and policy. The forms of school discipline, the position of the teacher, and the moral conception of the child have all changed over the years, but the overriding objective has remained. — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 473

Categorization

• QUESTION: This is the thesis that frames the chapter; worth tracking how its evidence supports or strains the claim.
• XREF: connects to: Public schooling in America was founded to produce a properly subordinate adult population; Common schooling aims to produce autonomous, creatively capable citizens.

Broader Connections

• Public schooling in America was founded to produce a properly subordinate adult population #corroborates (1.00)
• Common schooling aims to produce autonomous, creatively capable citizens. #contradicts (1.00)