Synopses & Reviews
This current, comprehensive history of American education is designed to stimulate critical analysis and critical thinking by offering alternative interpretations of each historical period. The new edition focuses on the process of educational globalization and the development of American schools in a global context.
About the Author
Joel Spring received his Ph.D. in educational policy studies from the University of Wisconsin. He is currently a Professor at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His great-great-grandfather was the first Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory and his grandfather, Joel S. Spring, was a local district chief at the time Indian Territory became Oklahoma. He currently teaches at Queens College of the City University of New York. His major research interests are history of education, multicultural education, Native American culture, the politics of education, global education, and human rights education. He is the author of over twenty books and the most recent are How Educational Ideologies are Shaping Global Society; Education and the Rise of the Global Economy; The Universal Right to Education: Justification, Definition, and Guidelines; Globalization and Educational Rights; and Educating the Consumer Citizen: A History of the Marriage of Schools, Advertising, and Media.
Table of Contents
List of Time Lines Preface Chapter 1 Thinking Critically about History Interpreting School History: From the Right to the Left Purposes of Educational History and its Effect on Public Images and Emotions Regarding Schools Themes in American Educational History Globalization Framework The Effect of Cultural and Religious Differences on Schools Schools as Managers of Public Thought Racial and Ethnic Conflict as a Theme in School History The Role in Educational History of Equality of Opportunity and Human Capital Globalization: Consumer and Environmental Education Chapter 2 Religion and Authority in Colonial Education Education and Culture in Colonial Society The Role of Education in Colonial Society Historical Interpretations of Colonial Education Authority and Social Status in Colonial Education Colonialism and Educational Policy Language and Cultural Domination Native Americans: Education as Cultural Imperialism Enslaved Africans: Atlantic Creoles Enslaved Africans: The Plantation System The Idea of Secular Education: Freedom of Thought and the Establishment of Academies Benjamin Franklin and Education as Social Mobility The Family and the Child Conclusion Chapter 3 Nationalism, Multiculturalism, and Moral Reform in the New Republic World Culture Theorists The Problem of Cultural Diversity Noah Webster: Nationalism and the Creation of a Dominant Culture Thomas Jefferson: A Natural Aristocracy Moral Reform and Faculty Psychology Concepts of Childhood: Protected, Working, Poor, Rural, and Enslaved Charity Schools, the Lancasterian System, and Prisons Institutional Change and the American College Public versus Private Schools Conclusion: Continuing Issues in American Education Chapter 4 The Ideology and Politics of the Common School Three Distinctive Features of the Common School Movement Workingmen and the Struggle for a Republican Education How Much Government Involvement in Schools? The Whigs and the Democrats The Birth of the High School The Continuing Debate about the Common School Ideal Conclusion Chapter 5 The Common School and the Threat of Cultural Pluralism The Increasing Multicultural Population of the United States Irish Catholics: A Threat to Anglo-American Schools and Culture Slavery and Freedom in the North: African Americans and Schools in the New Republic Native Americans Conclusion Chapter 6 Organizing the American School: Teachers and Bureaucracy The American Teacher Revolution in Teaching Methods: Object Learning The Evolution of Bureaucracy: A Global Model McGuffey's Readers and the Spirit of Capitalism Conclusion Chapter 7 Multiculturalism and the Failure of the Common School Ideal Mexican Americans: Race and Citizenship Asian Americans: Exclusion and Segregation Native American Citizenship Citizenship for African Americans Issues Regarding Puerto Rican Citizenship Puerto Rican American Educational Issues Conclusion: Setting the Stage for the Great Civil Rights Movement Chapter 8 Global Migration and the Growth of the Welfare Function of Schools Immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe The Kindergarten Movement Home Economics: Education of the New Consumer Woman School Cafeterias, the American Cuisine, and Processed Foods The Play Movement Summer School Social Centers The New Culture Wars Resisting Segregation: African Americans The Second Crusade for Black Education Resisting Segregation: Mexican Americans Native American Boarding Schools Resisting Discrimination: Asian Americans Educational Resistance in Puerto Rico Conclusion: Public Schooling As America's Welfare Institution Chapter 9 Human Capital: High School, Junior High School, and Vocational Guidance and Education The High School The High School and Adolescent Psychology The Comprehensive High School and the Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education High School Social Life: Cheerleaders and Assemblies Vocational Education Vocational Guidance Junior High School Adapting the Classroom to the Workplace: Lesson Plans Adapting the Classroom to the Workplace: Progressivism Adapting the Classroom to the Workplace: Stimulus-Response Classroom Management as Preparation for Factory Life Historical Interpretations: Public Benefit or Corporate Greed? Conclusion: The Meaning of Equality of Opportunity Chapter 10 Scientific School Management: Testing, Immigrants and Experts Scientifically Managed Schools: Meritocracy and Reducing Public Control Professionalizing Educational Administration Measurement, Democracy, and the Superiority of Anglo-Americans Closing the Door to Immigrants: The 1924 Immigration Act "Backward" Children and Special Classrooms Eugenics and the Age of Sterilization The University and Meritocracy Conclusion Chapter 11 The Politics of Knowledge: Teachers' Unions, the American Legion, and the American Way Teachers versus Administrators: The American Federation of Teachers The Rise of the National Education Association The Political Changes of the Depression Years The Politics of Ideological Management: The American Legion Selling the "American Way" in Schools and on Billboards Conclusion Chapter 12 Schools, Media, and Popular Culture: Influencing the Minds of Children and Teenagers Censorship of Movies as a Form of Public Education Educators and the Movies Should Commercial Radio or Educators Determine National Culture? Creating the Super Hero for Children's Radio Controlling the Influence of Comic Books Educating Children as Consumers The Creation of Teenage Markets Children and Youth from the 1950s to the 21st Century Conclusion Chapter 13 American Schools and Global Politics: The Cold War and Poverty Youth Unemployment: Universal Military Service and the GI Bill National Science Foundation and Science Instruction Universal Military Training and the Channeling of Youth for Global Warfare The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Educational Testing Service The Cold War and Purging the Schools of Communists American Schools: Weakest Link to Global Victory? Global Imperatives: The National Defense Education Act Schools and The War on Poverty Head Start and the Origins of No Child Left Behind Sesame Street and Educational Television Conclusion Chapter 14 The Fruits of Globalization: Civil Rights, Global Migration and Multicultural Education Ending School Segregation of National Minorities The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Native Americans and Indigenous Educational Rights Asian Americans: Educating the "Model Minority" Hispanic/Latino Americans Bilingual Education: The Culture Wars Continued The Immigration Act of 1965 and the New American Population Multicultural Education, Immigration, and the Culture Wars Schools and the International Women's Movement Children with Special Needs The Coloring of Textbook Town Liberating the Textbook Town Housewife for More Consumption Conclusion: The Cold War and Civil Rights Chapter 15 Globalizing the American School: From Nixon to Obama School Prayer and Bible Reading Nixon Years: Career Education and Busing Accountability and Standardized Testing Global Educational Goals: National Standards, Choice, and Savage Inequalities Educating for the Consumer Economy Education for Global Work and Consumption: No Child Left Behind No Child Left Behind and Religious Conservatives The 2008 Election: Global Economy and Cultural Divide Global Crisis and the Demise of Environmental Education Conclusion: From Horace Mann to Barack Obama Index