School: The Story of American Public Education - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807042218 ISBN 13: 9780807042212

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2002

Synopsis

Esteemed historians of education David Tyack, Carl Kaestle, Diane Ravitch, James Anderson, and Larry Cuban journey through history and across the nation to recapture the idealism of our education pioneers, Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann. We learn how, in the first quarter of the twentieth century, massive immigration, child labor laws, and the explosive growth of cities fueled school attendance and transformed public education, and how in the 1950s public schools became a major battleground in the fight for equality for minorities and women. The debate rages on: Do today's reforms challenge our forebears' notion of a common school for all Americans? Or are they our only recourse today?

This lavishly illustrated companion book to the acclaimed PBS documentary, School, is essential reading for anyone who cares about public education.

About this title

About the Author:

Sarah Mondale is president and co-director of Stone Lantern Films, as well as a public school teacher in New York. She directed and co-produced the award-winning PBS series School (narrated by Meryl Streep), PBS primetime film Marcel Proust, Emmy award-winning Asylum and Megamall. Her most recent film, Backpack Full of Cash (2016) explores the privatization of public schools in America.

From Publishers Weekly:

Chronologically arranged in four sections (1770-1890, 1900-1950, 1950-1980, 1980-2000), this anthology covers much ground (charter, common, frontier and dame schools) at a brisk, engaging pace. These five eminent scholars catalogue the experiences of African-Americans, Catholics, Native Americans, Mexican-Americans, people with disabilities and girls in an educational system originally designed for Protestant white boys. Tyack and company nimbly chart changing educational philosophies (Horace Mann, John Dewey, the Gary Plan, Archbishop John Hughes) and public debates, such as those aroused by the introduction of IQ tests in the 1920s, the 1957 launching of Sputnik (prompting fear that Soviet education outshone U.S. education) and the 1983 publication of A Nation at Risk, an assessment of the state of public education by "a presidential commission of corporate and public leaders and educators." And there are surprises "black literacy soared in the decades after the Civil War, from 5 percent to 70 percent"; "New York's English-only curriculum was radical" in the 1910s; in the 1930s two-thirds of Los Angeles's Mexican-American students were classified as "slow learners... even mentally retarded" after the introduction of IQ tests; Lyndon Johnson was a schoolteacher; and in 1970 women received "less than 1 percent of all medical and legal degrees." This exemplary, thoroughly readable account of a "complex and controversial and open-ended" subject is enhanced by 125-plus photos and illustrations. (Sept. 12)Forecast: This companion to the PBS documentary series will attract a significant readership. Though balanced, it will stir controversy at a time when reform leans toward business models and Horace Mann's belief "that all citizens" are responsible for the education of all children is being challenged.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0807042218
• ISBN 13: 9780807042212
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Mondale Sarah