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The School in the United States collects a wide range of essential primary documents of the history of education in the United States, from colonial America to present-day reform efforts. Expertly chosen by historian and education scholar James Fraser, these documents incorporate many different sources, from first-person accounts to textbook excerpts and presidential speeches. As Fraser demonstrates, the history of American education is also a history of national debates and decisions about schooling, and he places the prominent voices of these debates in conversation through carefully curated selections, including the work of famous thinkers like Thomas Jefferson and W. E. B. DuBois, as well as that of ordinary classroom teachers.
Organized by era, each chapter begins with a brief introduction intended to spark student interest, while a detailed bibliography suggests opportunities for further research. In addition, the fourth edition also offers an alternative structure that allows easy use of the book by topic as an alternative to chronology. Comprehensive enough to be used as a main text, but selective enough to be used alongside another, The School in the United States makes accessible key readings in the history of American education in a format that encourages students to make their own evaluations as they engage with major historical debates.
Updates to this fourth edition include:
New documents throughout including additional teacher voices and a focus on technology.
The last two chapters have been extensively revised to include material on school shootings, debates about charter schools, teacher strikes, and the purposes of public education in the United States.
A number of older documents have been shortened to point students more clearly to the most important ideas of a document. Overall the fourth edition is shorter than previous editions.
Online resources that include a full Instructor's Manual and sample syllabi.
List of contents
Organised Chronologically:
1. The School in Colonial America, 1620—1770 2. The American Revolution and Schools for the New Republic, 1770—1820 3. The Common School Movement, 1820—1860 4. Schooling Moves West, 1835—1860 5. Slavery, Reconstruction, and the Schools of the South, 1820—1937 6. The Emergence of the High School, 1821—1959 7. Growth and Diversity in Schools and Students, 1880—1960 8. The Progressive Era, 1890―1950 9. Schools in the Cold War Era, 1950—1970 10. Civil Rights, Integration, and School Reform, 1954—1980 11.Rights, Opportunities and Limits in American Education, 1965—1980 12.Reform Efforts of the 1980s and 1990s and the New Century, 1980—2005 13.Curriculum, Technology, and New Tensions, 2005—2018
Organised Thematically:
How Had the Job of Teaching Changed Over Time and How Have Teachers Helped Change It? How is Technology Changing Schools? For Better? For Worse? Who Pays for Schools? Who Decides What to Do with the Money? Are Schools Fair? What Should Fairness in Schooling Look Like? A Broadening Quest for Rights and Opportunities in American Education. School Violence, School Choice, Teacher Unions, Liberal and Conservative Views of Fairness. What Gets Taught? What Should Get Taught? Hidden and Overt Curriculum? What Is the Purpose of Public Schools? How Has the Purpose Changed Over Time?
About the author
James W. Fraser is Professor of History and Education at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University, USA. He was the 2012–2014 President of the History of Education Society.
Summary
The School in the United States collects the essential primary documents of the history of education in the United States. Expertly chosen by historian and education scholar James Fraser, these documents walk students through two centuries of U.S. education from Colonial America through present-day reform efforts.
