After reading Managers of Virtue, I have a new appreciation for the interaction of schools and society. The authors present a clear argument that the “virtues” of a time period determine the look and feel of schools in that same period. Although, the authors do contend, “we are rejecting both the great-man theory […] and a deterministic viewpoint (pg 12).” They believe, there is no single actor, but schools are influenced by many sources.
This is interesting to me because as an educator, I often view schools as a change agent. As a teacher, I believe that I am shaping tomorrow’s leaders and followers. It’s very awkward, and to an extent stifling, for me to believe this may not be so.
But as I write, it is beginning to make more sense. A nation hungry to best the Russians gave us “new math”. A nation already entrenched in civil rights disputes integrated our schools. A nation already attached to hand held devices is pushing technology into schools. Schools aren’t causing change, they are reacting to it.
I want schools to be change agents, but the fact of the matter is they never really have been. In fact, as we learned in the documentary from the last class meeting, schools were created with the status quo in mind. Public schools have done great things for society I look forward to the day that they can do great things to society.
Trevon's Blog 
I agree with both you and the author that schools reflect society, but I am optimistic that they can also be venues for change. Do you think it is possible that they do both?
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I had the same thought as Courtney. I think schools HAVE been reactionary to many things (i.e., they have been shaped by society) but I wonder if good leaders (at least good leaders in pockets?) could be more proactive, so this relationship between school and society becomes mutually shaping and reshaping?
Of course, this leads to a whole other debate, because there are those who see the schools as would-be agents of change (on both sides of the political spectrum, yes? Because there are those who want schools to promote progressive ideals, and there are those who want schools to churn out workforce-ready and perhaps compliant employees, and these are both “values”). There are even those who see schools as the fix-all bandaid to solving everything from unemployment to poverty. Then there are those who are continually concerned that the school already “indoctrinate” kids and push back on this–hence, in Texas, controversy over climate change, sex education, etc. and how those issues are taught or presented in schools.
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