Even as Goals 2000 (the latest manifestation of factory-model schooling) is being adopted nationwide, a smaller, but growing counter-movement aimed at decentralizing and democratizing public schools has emerged. Manifestations include magnet and charter schools and the new, smaller, autonomous institutions called in-district charter or pilot…

Although one national goal proposes that all Americans will have all knowledge necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise citizenship responsibility, others fail to explain how children incarcerated in standards-driven schools will make sense of the world. The microsociety school approach radically recontextualizes in-school learning by…