Public Policy Development in Education Sector in America

The essay assesses the role of government in public policy development for education sector in America. It includes analysis of six works of scholars who have propounded their views on the matter of public policy in the field of education. The strengths and weaknesses of each work are discussed in detail.

Running head: PUBLIC POLICY DEVELOPMENT
Public Policy Development
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The purpose of this particular essay is to assess the role the government has played in the
field of public policy development to enhance the education sector in the continent of America.
Responding to the specific needs of the time, either to bring about an innovation in the education
system of the country, or to rectify some flaws which have persistently been the defining feature
of the education system, several policy decisions have been undertaken. It shall be discussed in
light of the literature provided by several authors, by discussing their works and by critiquing
them in a constructive manner, which seeks not to defame the scholar but to appreciate their
works in an impartial way. The following section shall be consisting of the analysis of six works
of scholars who have propounded their views on the matter of public policy in the field of
education.
According to the book, “A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential
School System, 1879-1986. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press” in today’s context, Canada
is considered as a country having a population which is predominantly that of the white skinned
people who had migrated to the continent of North America from the continent of Europe just
across the Atlantic Ocean. Milloy (2017) in his book recounts of the atrocities that had been
waged on the local aboriginal population by the immigrants from another continent. The central
theme of the book by Milloy ( 2017) has been by and large to provide a historical account of the
residential schools which had a stronghold in the country at some point of time and monopolized
the field of education. The book is largely the critique of the system of tyranny and the
reluctance of the government to devote any substantial attention to the issue by not formulating
any policy decision to pro-actively to counter it. The strength of the book lies in the fact that it
has very vividly portrayed the tyranny and torture that was perpetrated on the children of
aboriginal origin under the pretext of educating them and civilizing them. The gory images of

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how the church and the Christian missionaries had been involved in the process of accelerating
the process of de-culturation among the aborigines can be found in the article. The style of the
writing is quite lucid and the story telling style which has been adopted in conveying the
sentiments of the aborigines who were eliminated from their families and also forced to forget
their cultural sentiments and practices has actually added to the effectiveness of the piece of
writing. The weakness of this particular book is that it has not very substantially touched upon
the issue of policy decisions taken by the government to eradicate the issue. The only mention of
the role of the government in extending an approach to the issue has been with regard to the
empathy that the contemporary government has shown, with no mention of how the government
has helped the victims of the discriminatory practice to rehabilitate and return back to normalcy
after their trauma and anxieties being pacified and assured of safety in future. Also, it needs to be
mentioned that the scholar has imbibed a lot of personal bias and value judgement which makes
the book unsuitable for the tag of being objective and impartial. Nevertheless, its historical
significance cannot be downplayed.
This particular article by Wallner (2012) “Looking north of the 49th Parallel: P-12
education in Canada” focuses upon the aspect of the strength of the system of education that
prevails in Finland, in Europe. Given the profound contribution the system has made in enriching
the educational experience of both the children and that of the educators, it has proved itself to be
an inspiration for the schooling system that prevails in the continent of North America,
especially Canada. The Finnish system has thus been considered as worthy of emulation, and
implementation of those particular principles and techniques have been envisaged for the sake of
having the same results. Throughout the article the discussion has been maneuvering about the
issue of how the schooling system in Canada is lacking on certain vital aspects, and on further

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researches in the field of pedagogical practices it has been concluded that the solution to those
lacunas and deficiencies could be found in the Finnish system of schooling. This is as far as the
research question of the article is concerned. However further researches have reached the
conclusion that despite the shortcomings in the system of schooling, Canada has shone brilliantly
in the international sphere with regard to finding a glorious place in the global index of
education. The proof of it lies in the rank which Canada has consistently been securing in the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Programme for International
Student Assessment in terms of the performances of the students of the country in the various
tests and other academic exercises. The reasons provided for this outstanding success has been
attribute to the fact that the schools have been acting autonomously in terms of undertaking the
vital decisions for the benefit of the education system with no attempt to enforce any
homogenizing effect on the schools of the country. It would however be wrong to say that there
has been no effort to bring about a unifying effect in the educational system of the country as the
federal government of the country at the sub-national levels have often provided some form of
support or the other to ensure that the schools function properly and at the same time create
conditions which would enable the schools to enjoy the privilege of autonomy in a better way.
The strength of the article lies in the impartial effort which has been directed towards finding the
nuances of the schooling system that prevails in the country, which is very much evident in the
both sides, the positive as well as the negative of the schooling system that has been provided.
The negative side of the article is however stressing on the fact that the system of schooling that
prevails in Finland has been glorified too much without mentioning of its demerits which has
made the research article seem biased. Otherwise on a overall basis, the article shall definitely be
considered as an important reading if one seeks to critically analyze the schooling system in

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Canada, and can also be looked into by the policy makers for formulating the necessary policies
for enhancing the educational experience of the students in the country.
The particular article by Taylor and Hall (1996) “Political science and the three new
institutionalisms” makes an attempt to explain the concept of, ‘new institutionalism’ which is
emerging in the discipline of political science as a tool to assess the role and relevance of the
schools in the contemporary period. The research question of the article deals with the relevance
of the approach in ensuring a healthy educational environment for the betterment of the students
of the new generation. The uniqueness of this article is that it seeks to highlight the relationship
of the new approach with the larger political world and also with the society. The discussion
begins by defining the three institutional approaches at a great detail, and then proceeding further
to speak about the respective merits and the demerits of each of the approaches. The three
institutional approaches which have been discussed in the article are also compared and
contrasted with each other in order to demonstrate the comparative benefits and disadvantages of
the approaches in order to enable the readers or the policy implementation process to make a
judicious approach with regard to combining the various specificities of the approaches by
cherry picking them as per the requirements dictated by the circumstances. The strength of the
research article lies in the fact that it shall be a profound piece of literature for the academicians
to gain a theoretical knowledge about pedagogics and enable them to undertake the adequate
measures in being the provider of correct guidance to the policy makers in designing a legal
statute for the betterment of the students of the country. However, the weaknesses of the research
article lies in the issue that it devotes a lot of attention to the theoretical aspect without making
any enquiry into the practical application of the approaches. It is impossible to judge the
relevance of a particular institutional approach, or of a theoretical or conceptual construct until

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and unless the results and repercussions of its application is testified and diagnosed accordingly.
There has not been any mention of any evidences of experimentation with the institutional
approach which makes the article redundant. On an overall basis it can be said that the article is
expected to serve the purpose of an academician but not for policy approaches in a direct way. It
is thus recommended that further quantitative researches are undertaken with respect to testifying
the applicability of the policy approaches so as to ensure that promise of providing an account of
the relevance of the approaches is fulfilled.
According to Taylor and Hall (1996) it is not an unknown matter that the education
system of the world is by and large very much West centric in its approach, and as a result of it
so happens that the importance, the valuable insights and the precious knowledge from other
systems of knowledge of centered at other geographical locations of the world gets ignored
somehow. That creates more of a disadvantage than advantages, since it erodes the autonomy of
the other systems of education apart from rendering the West centric style of education being
exclusive. Keeping this in mind the a policy has been designed at Toronto, in Canada in the year
2008 to ensure that the curriculum be updated and elements be included from the African
cultural background in order to enrich the educational experience in the country and live up to be
the promise of providing profound education that shall be quite effective in broadening the
horizon of the intellectual and the informational faculty of the students and have a better idea of
the world. The research question of this particular research article by Thompson and Wallner
(2011) is thus assessing the impact of the new policy decision declared by the Toronto
Government besides a detailed account of the aims, objectives and vision of it. The strength of
this particular piece of article that it tries to highlight the noble intention of the Canadian
government to be more inclusive in its approach towards the education policy in a detailed

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manner. This particular piece of writing seeks to provide a detailed outline of the vision of the
Canadian Government in cultural enrichment. The weakness of this particular article lies in the
fact that the discussion has solely focused on the policy initiative for the sake of the public, but
has no mention of its implementation and the results of it. This is the lacuna in the article and it
leaves room for further research in the field.
Fournier and Crey (1997) speaks of the systemic violence that had been waged upon the
aboriginal community in the name of civilizing them by linking them to a policy approach. They
hold the Christian clergies, the social workers and the police force responsible behind the
perpetration of the torturous and inhumane practices under the pretext of helping the indigenous
population of the country. It has been argued by Fournier and Crey (1997) that the policies that
they have harped upon stresses upon those which deal with the social service schemes designed
specifically to deal with the aborigines. They include the child welfare schemes. The piece of
scholarly work is replete with accounts of survivors who have experience physical abuse which
were both coercive and sexually exploitative and violative at the same time. They have very
specifically mentioned the practice as having the backing of the government. The policies which
were designed by the government that was at the helm of affairs back then, during the early days
of colonialism did more harm than good, is the point which the scholars have tried to make. The
strength of the research lies in the fact that the scholars have devoted adequate amount of
attention to link it to policy approaches. The weakness of the research lies in the fact that the
attention have been more towards the predicament of the aborigines with tangential reference of
it to the policy approaches.

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Li (2015) in the article, “Ontario Education Governance 1995 to the Present: More
Accountability, More Regulation, and More Centralization” provides a chronological trajectory
of the progress that has taken place in the Canadian education system ever since 1995 to the
contemporary times. Special reference has been devoted to the changes brought about by means
of the policy decisions that have been initiated in the province of Ontario during the times of
Progressive Conservative leader Michael Harris. The piece of writing is divided into three
sections. The first part deals with the factor of governance of education. The second part deals
with the shifts that have taken place in the education system and the steps that have been taken to
solve the problem as and the tensions that have been caused as a result of effecting the new
system. The tension has to do with that between the ideological clash between the liberal and the
conservative government, and less about the efforts to effect any changes in the education system
as such through a policy. The third part deals with the struggle between the unions formed by the
teachers and the government, which was a result of the decisions taken by the government
without consulting the teachers. The strength of this scholarly work has to do with the flaws it
showcases of the Canadian education system which is immanent in the policy decisions that have
been undertaken so much so far. The lack of critical analysis of the policy issues mentioned and
a flat narration of incidents makes up for the weakness of the scholarly work.

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References
Fournier, S., & Crey, E. (1997). Stolen from Our Embrace: The Abduction of First Nations
Children and the Restoration of Aboriginal Communities. Douglas & McIntyre Ltd.,
1615 Venables Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5L 2H1 (cloth: ISBN-
55054-117-X, $29.95; paper: ISBN-55054-661-9, $19.95)..
Li, X. (2015). Ontario Education Governance 1995 to the Present: More Accountability, More
Regulation, and More Centralization?. Journal of International Education and
Leadership, 5(1), n1.
Milloy, J. S. (2017). A national crime: The Canadian government and the residential school
system (Vol. 11). Univ. of Manitoba Press.
Taylor, R., & Hall, P. A. (1996). Political science and the three new institutionalisms. Political
Studies, 44(5), 936-957.
Thompson, D., & Wallner, J. (2011). A focusing tragedy: Public policy and the establishment of
Afrocentric education in Toronto. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue
canadienne de science politique, 44(4), 807-828.
Wallner, J. (2012). Looking north of the 49th Parallel: P-12 education in Canada. Peabody
Journal of Education, 87(5), 593-608.