Though education is its middle name, the teachers' organization known as the National Education Association has found it hard to define a simple and consistent goal for U.S. schools. In 1918 one famed N.E.A. group prescribed "health, command of fundamental processes, worthy home membership, vocational competence, effective citizenship, worthy use of leisure, and ethical character." In 1938 N.E.A.'s Educational Policies Commission called for "self-realization, human relationship, economic efficiency, and civic responsibility" (broken into 43 sub-goals, such as "efficiency in buying"). In 1951 N.E.A. undertook to provide ten more "values," including the Declaration of Independence's "pursuit of happiness."
Last week the Educational Policies...
