Joseph Adelson, Carl Dolce, Denis Doyle, Gilbert Sewall, and Donald Stedman discuss media coverage of education in the United States. They are concerned that the press often embraces new ideas, trends, and data without appropriate examination of the evidence or balanced presentation; that low priority is given to education in the news; and that reporters and editors may underestimate their power to influence citizens, and that biases may result from unconscious ideological agendas. They cite articles from the mid-1960s to 1981 to illustrate their points. This series ends with a discussion of positive trends and successes in the history of American education, such as the implementation of universal secondary education after World War II.
At the time of this interview, Adelson, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1978-79), was professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. Dolce was dean of the School of Education at North Carolina State University. Doyle was the education policies studies director at the American Enterprise Institute. Sewall, a Fellow at the Center (1981-82), was former education editor of Newsweek. Stedman was associate vice-president for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
