Listed in: American Studies, as AMST-250 | History, as HIST-170
Leah N. Gordon (Section 01)
(Offered as HIST 170 [US] and AMST 250) What do Americans want their schools to accomplish? What happens when they don’t agree (as has frequently been the case)? How have disagreements about educational goals been embedded in policy? And how have schools mediated larger conflicts—over the place of pluralism in the American nation or the contradictions between democratic commitments to political equality and capitalist tendencies towards economic inequality—in American politics and culture? By exploring questions like these, this discussion-based course addresses central themes in the history of American education. First, it explores the history of American educational goals, drawing clear distinctions between what Americans say they want their schools to accomplish and what functions schools actually perform. Second, the course examines struggles for power over educational governance, including debates over localism, bureaucratization, expertise, philanthropy, and privatization. Third, the course focuses on educators’ efforts to foster cohesion and respond to diversity in a pluralist nation. And finally, the course centers arguments over stratification, especially whether schools can transform—or are destined to simply replicate—racial, gender, and socio-economic hierarchies. The course is organized chronologically, addressing: the nineteenth century common school movement and rise of the high school; education for Native Americans, African Americans, and immigrants at the turn of the twentieth century; educational progressivism, including debates over testing, tracking, and vocational education; battles over school desegregation in the half century following Brown v. Board of Education (1954); the expanding federal role in education after the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1964); and late twentieth century movements for privatization, testing, standards, and accountability. Two class meetings per week.
Limited to 30 students. Fall semester. Lewis-Sebring Visiting Professor L. Gordon.
If Overenrolled: Priority given to HIST and AMST majors and students interested in Education Studies.
Section 01
M 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM MERR 401
W 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM MERR 401
| ISBN | Title | Publisher | Author(s) | Comment | Book Store | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928 | Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1995 | Adams, David Wallace | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 | Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1988 | Anderson, James | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and American Society, 1780-1860 | New York: Hill and Wang, 1983 | Kaestle, Carl | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 1893-1958 | New York: Routledge, 2004 | Kliebard, Herbert M. | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| The Undeserving Poor: America's Enduring Confrontation with Poverty: Fully Updated and Revised | New York: Oxford University Press, 2013 | Katz, Michael B. | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools | New York: Broadway Books, 2012 | Kozol, Jonathan | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Between Citizens and the State: The Politics of American Higher Education in the 20th Century | Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014 | Loss, Christopher | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Schooling Citizens: The Struggle for African American Education in Antebellum America | Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013 | Moss, Hilary J. | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| In Brown's Wake: Legacies of America's Educational Landmark | New York: Oxford University Press, 2012 | Minow, Martha | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Five Miles Away, A World Apart: One City, Two Schools, and the Story of Educational Opportunity in Modern America | Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011 | Ryan, James E. | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Americans All: The Cultural Gifts Movement | Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011 | Selig, Diana | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| School, Society, and State: A New Education to Govern Modern America, 1890-1940 | Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012 | Steffes, Tracy | Amherst Books | TBD |
These books are available locally at Amherst Books.