An analysis of the educational theory of George S. Counts

George S. Counts wrote on educational subjects for more than forty years. During this period he intensely studied the social foundations of American society and the purposes of both Soviet and American education. The purpose of this study was three-fold. First, it traced the development of Counts' educational theme through his writing career. Second, it indicated the relationship of his thinking on American and Soviet education. And, third, it showed the relevance of his educational ideas and social analysis to education for the mid-seventies and beyond. An examination of the educational ideas of Counts revealed an integrated theme that ran throughout his works. His central focus was a call for an educational system that would lead to the preservation of democratic values in a world that had undergone a major transformation from agrarianism to industrialism and was continuing to undergo accelerating change and ever increasing interdependency. In the 1920s he approached his theme on the local level. The impact of the Great Depression led him to see the theme as a national issue in an interdependent nation whose economic, social, and political democracy was being undermined by the changes that had taken place in the means of production. World War II and its aftermath caused him to see his theme as an international issue in an interdependent world in which no one nation could live by or to itself. The study was divided into four main chapters: (1) the 1920s and domestic threats to American democracy; (2) the 1930s and economic, social, and political threats to American democracy; (3) the postwar world and international threats to American democracy; and (4) George S. Counts and education in the post-seventies. [...]