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From Aristotle to Arendt...education has always served profoundly political functions, functions that inextricably link the social responsibilities of schools with their intellectual responsibilities. Indeed, noted reformers -- Thomas Jefferson, Horace Mann, John Dewey -- have amplified such purposes, viewing schooling as the process of creating an embryonic community life in which children's intellectual, personal, emotional, and social development should be nourished (Kagan, 1994)." However, beginning with the American cultural revolution of the 1960's and 70's, the focus of American education has been changing. Increasingly, schools are the developing point of the individual. Individualism is what guides most children through school now which is particularly true of higher education. The introduction of the child to the community was once based upon a very grand plan to mold minds into the shape of the ideal citizen (a very Roman ideal). Education, then, was intended to create citizens who would further the cause and ensure the longevity of the community / nation. While this approach continues today, it has been steadily changing. We continue to teach citizenship in schools by encouraging sharing of toys and ideas, joining in group activities, and feeling part of something bigger (i.e. patriotism and nationalism). But, one must ask, what is an ideal citizen?

Aristotle's question of whether education should be of the mind or the character of the soul, toward practice or virtue, is one that many individual schools have tried to take on in a small scale. While elementary level education is fairly universal, our national education system is peppered with Charter Schools, Magnet Schools, and other unique institutions that are conducting an experiment seemingly, on a larger scale, to answer Aristotle's question. What it is that makes a good citizen is what guides our educational system. The problem is, however, that in a culture so bent upon erasing barriers, of unconditional equality, of absolute access, and to complete political correctness, the definition of citizenship no longer acts as a unifying theme in education. Indeed, the very idea of "civic education" grows out of the connection with this kind of regime. As everything depends on education in a republican system - the city being formed more by the character of its citizens than formal institutions - it cannot be left to chance but must be legislated by the city (Ceasar & McGuinn, 1998). But, this too is in contention because of the concerns since the 1960's about the overreaching power of the government in controlling our minds and lives.

If education is to focus upon the functions of the body, the instinctual behaviors or