Minds for the Making: The Role of Science in American Education, 1750-1990

Science, as subject matter and as method, has elicited both suspicion and deference since the beginning of the American educational enterprise, according to geologist and essayist Montgomery. The subject matter of this volume is topical, and the themes woven through it are provocative, if not always clearly articulated. Montgomery analyzes the historical determination of educational policy as an ongoing competition among forces he terms ``Academist,'' ``Practicalist'' and ``Reformist.'' He broadly sketches the founding of educational institutions and programs in the U.S., and provides insight into contemporaneous political issues. A disturbing theme throughout the book is that advocated ``change'' tends to consist of old ideas expressed in new forms and in fact Montgomery views most impulses for educational change as politically and economically motivated. He allows Jefferson and Franklin their idealism, but emphasizes that their call for popular science education has never honestly been heeded. He is at his best in vignettes on scientists who have strongly influenced the course of science education, e.g., Benjamin Silliman, Louis Agassiz, Herbert Spencer. The book's writing is uneven, with well-expressed insights and convoluted sentences often juxtaposed, and his science-derived puns (``colloidal suspension of disbelief'') making awkward metaphors. The book could have been edited and shortened for more general readability. (Apr.)