Dare the School Build a New Social Order?

George S. Counts

George S. Counts (1889–1974) played multiple roles in American education. He was a professor of education at Columbia University's Teachers College, an expert on Soviet education, a president of the American Federation of Teachers, and an originator of the theory of social reconstructionism. Among his many books, "Dare the School Build a New Social Order?" published in 1932, is frequently cited as an argument that teachers and schools should originate rather than reflect sociopolitical and economic ideas and values. In the following selection, Counts argues that teachers should seek to shape the society and not fear imposing their views in the educational process.

That the teachers should deliberately reach for power and then make the most of their conquest is my firm conviction. To the extent that they are permitted to fashion the curriculum and the procedures of the school they will definitely and positively influence the social attitudes, ideals, and behavior of the coming generation.... Representing as they do, not the interests of the moment or of any special class, but rather the common and abiding interests of the people, teachers are under heavy social obligation to protect and further those interests. In this they occupy a relatively unique position in society. Also since the profession should embrace scientists and scholars of the highest rank, as well as teachers working at all levels of the educational system, it has at its disposal, as no other group, the knowledge and wisdom of the ages. It is scarcely thinkable that these men and women would ever act as selfishly or bungle as badly as have the so-called "practical" men of our generation—the politicians, the financiers, the industrialists. If all of these facts are taken into account, instead of shunning power, the profession should rather seek power and then strive to use that power fully and wisely and in the interests of the great masses of the people....

[Teachers] must be prepared to stand on their own feet and win for their ideas the support of the...people. Education as a force for social regeneration must march hand in hand with the living and creative forces of the social order.

Questions

1. According to Counts, why should teachers reach for power?
2. How can education be a force for social reconstruction?
3. Is Counts's argument relevant to teachers' ongoing professional organization and development?
4. If you agree with Counts, how would you, as a beginning teacher, empower teachers?

Source: George S. Counts, Dare the School Build a New Social Order? (Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978), pp. 26–28. Reprinted by permission of Martha L. Counts. Cover from the 1932 edition, published by The John Day Company, New York.