Chapter 8: Beyond Project Versus Process: Searching for Progress in Education

Let’s play a game. We will provide a list of words and as you read them, allow them to conjure up images in your mind. Ok, here we go: Fab Four, establishment, bell bottoms, Cold War, peace, Haight Ashbury, ‘nam, square. What have you come up with so far? Are you picturing them separately or are they working together resulting in an overall feeling or impression? Let’s add a few more: civil rights, Twiggy, communist, Little Rock, protest march. What picture do those words paint for you now? What messages do these words convey? What memories do they invoke? For many readers they might not mean much at all. For some they may form fuzzy images based on something they’ve been told or read about in a history class or book. But for others who are old enough to have lived experiences with these events, they paint a picture of the 1960s, one of the most volatile decades in recent U.S. history, both culturally and educationally.