"This selection of readings situates issues of education in the critical context of the major political, economic, cultural, and environmental crises that confront us as a nation and a global community, including poverty and growing social injustice, racism, sexism, and other forms of marginality and exclusion; the depersonalization of social and political life; moral and spiritual issues; and the ecological crisis. It provides a focus and a conceptual framework for thinking about education in the context of these issues. Readers are exposed to the thinking of some of the best and most insightful social and educational commentators. Although this volume focuses on American society, it also presents a concern for the larger global community."--BOOK JACKET.