The Canadian left has over the years paid remarkably little attention to the actual content of education. Apart from occasional bursts of concern about militarism, sexism, racism, or anti-labour bias, the school curriculum has gone largely unquestioned.
Socialist values such as cooperation, participation, personal autonomy, and a sense of community do not appear out of thin air. They have to be acquired. Conservatives and liberals have long realized this and have shaped the schools accordingly, so that the capitalist ethic of competitive individualism is now strongly entrenched and is learned early in life. If the vision of cooperative commonwealth is to become a reality, then education will have an important role to play. This book is an attempt to outline what this role might be.
Educating Citizens outlines a working class curriculum designed to prepare students for participation in a socialist democracy.
An Our Schools/Our Selves book.

KEN OSBORNE is a member of the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba. He taught for twelve years in the Winnipeg school system before joining the university. He has written extensively in the areas of history teaching, labour studies, political education and peace education.

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