Conflict of Interests: The Politics of American Education provides a critical understanding of the political and social forces shaping educational politics in the United States. It describes and analyzes how policy is made for American schools, and its effect on all our lives and thinking. Spring argues that the politics of Education is driven by a complex interrelationship between politicians, private foundations and thinktanks, teachers’ unions, special-interest groups, educational politicians, school administrators, boards of education, courts, and the knowledge industry. This text uses many current examples to illustrate conflicts over educational policies. Spring links these conflicts to economics, culture, multiculturalism, language, religion, and equal opportunity. Spring discusses textbook publishing, standardized testing, the political uses of the judicial system, and the politics of education at each level of government.

Joel Spring, professor of education at the New School University, received his Ph.D. in educational policy studies from the University of Wisconsin. His father was born a citizen of the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory prior to the abolishment of the Choctaw government and the creation of Oklahoma. Professor Spring’s current interest in Native American culture and history is a reflection of his Indian background. His major research interests are the history of education, multicultural education, Native American culture, and the politics of education.Professor Spring is the author of many books including The Cultural Transformation of a Native American Family and Its Tribe 1763-1995: A Basket of Apples; Images of American Life: A History of Ideological Management in Schools, Movies, Radio, and Television; and Political Agendas for Education: From the Christian Coalition to the Green Party. For McGraw-Hill Professor Spring has authored American Education; Wheels in the Head: Educational Philosophies of Authority, Freedom, and Culture from Socrates to Human Rights; The Intersection of Cultures: Multicultural Education in the United States and the Global Economy; Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality: A Brief History of the Education of Dominated Cultures in the United States, and Conflict of Interests: The Politics of American Education.