On Sun, 19 Apr 2009, Jordan Hayes wrote:
>> This all started in the early 70's ...
>
> I'd say it dates to Brown vs Board of Education.
According to Bowles and Gintis (_Schooling in Capitalist America_) the basic system of differention through the hidden curriculum dates to the beginning of the consolidation of the common school system. Factory workers went through grammer school, where the rote learning and absolute disciplone fitted them for factory work. Clerical workers went though high school, where some limited autonomy was granted them to carry some task without direct supervision, fitting them for their level in the hierarchy. And people who would manage the system went to college, where they had autonomy to plan their own projects, but could only succeed by internalizing the instructor's values.
Innovation supposedly starts after 1945 when the GI bill sends lots of the working class to college (in a conscious attempt to avoid another Great Depression). After that, differentiation starts in the different kinds of colleges and the different tracks to them.
Michael