This text is a postmodern, historical analysis that seeks to trouble the distinction between the “private” and the “public” that is traditionally drawn in educational history and theory by examining the histories of public schools and independent schools around the topics of identity politics, accountability, and globalization. This work is unique in its focus on the histories of independent schoolings as being in dialogue with those of public schooling. Through a historical and theoretical examination of the dialogical space in-between the private/public divide in education around these three interrelated topics, this work seeks to troubles the private/public distinction, exploring the possibilities and futurities for curriculum work and education in the postmodern space in-between public schools and independent schools. It raises questions regarding what defines the structures of schooling in the United States as well as how contrasts between public and private spaces question traditional notions of democratic education.