This book introduces prospective teachers to the historical, social, and legal foundations of education and to the profession of teaching. The text is designed to help readers develop a conceptual framework for understanding the educational system within which teachers work, and challenges them to ask questions about the role of schooling in U.S. Society. Part 1, on the school and the social order, discusses the purposes of public schooling; the increased emphasis on the role of teacher unions in state politics; President Bush's educational goals for the year 2000; and issues of gender, race, and ethnicity. Part 2 explores power and control in U.S. education at the local, state, and national levels; discusses the various political forces working to nationalize education in the United States; and demonstrates the impact of the politics of education on the content of schooling. How politics affects curriculum instruction and textbooks and how court decisions affect every aspect of schooling in terms of protection of individual rights within the public schools is included along with a review of relevant cases. (LJL)