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students and thus use its position to reproduce the social values it considers should be
adopted by students in schools.
Further evidence to show that the dominant socio-political values have had a long association
with the official knowledge of schools is the support 19 th century Whig politician, Horace
Mann gave to the establishment of government funded schools in the United States. The
dominant values present then were the need, based on a perceived threat from immigrants and
Indigenous American peoples, for self-protection and a way to ensure that this occurred.
Mann, in wanting to establish common schools, argued that “…would not the payment of a
sufficient tax to make such education and training universal, be the cheapest means of selfprotection
and insurance?” (as cited in Karier, 1973, p. 12). In essence, his argument was “the
state would use public education as a vehicle for social control and order” (Karier, 1973, p.
12). Even with the changing nature of schools and the increase in students accessing
education in Australia especially in the years post World War II, the dominant values of
society continue to be pursued through the curriculum, often for political and economic
means. Even the Education Act 1875 (QLD) enacted to provide free and compulsory
education, and then the extension of compulsory schooling to encompass high school post
World War II, can be seen as a response to the dominant societal values in the general public
calling for education to be provided for children and young people.
2.2.3 Curriculum as ‘commonsense’.
In recent times, there has been a call by governments to teach students one set of clearly
articulated values through content that is often referred to as an all encompassing ‘our’
culture and heritage. Apple explains this by writing, that there is a “…call to ‘return’ to a
‘common culture’ in which all students are given the values of a specific group—usually the
dominant group…” (2004, p. xxiv), and as a consequence, “they imply certain
presuppositions, which many people see as ‘common sense beliefs’ or ‘shared truth’”
(Wodak, 2004, p. 208). More often, this call and expectation originates from conservative
governments, especially those that promote a mono-cultural set of values for their citizens to
embody. In relation to the teaching of History and associated subjects, this can be seen in the
reproducing of the dominant historical values—whether accurate or imagined—part of
historical mythology. This reinforcement of the dominant culture as Raymond William states
“...is always passed off as ‘the tradition,’ the significant past” (as cited in Apple, 2004, p. 5).
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