Within the context of the founders’ “grand experiment,” the public purpose of public schools is not to produce the same results or to make us the same. It is to provide us with a common socializing experience that preserves the energy and vitality of our individual and cultural differences and yet allows us to recognize and accept each other as fellow citizens and Americans. “We dare not forget, cautioned John F. Kennedy, “that we are the heirs of that first revolution.” Developing self-governing individuals within the context of a shared and common heritage is the critical task of public
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