Education, Modernity and Neo‐consewative School Reform in Canada, Britain and the US

Conservative critiques of education and proposals for reform show striking similarities in Canada, Britain and the US. All seem to reflect what Habermas referred to as “the affirmative stance towards social modernity and the denigration of cultural modernity”. The paper uses this distinction to describe and analyse New Right criticisms of educational progressivism and conservative efforts to promote a new sympathy for business values, market discipline and market relations in schools and colleges.