Connecting with the History of Education throughout This Book

The next major phase in the Standards Movement was the development of the Common Core State Standards and the Obama Administration’s Race to the Top (RTTT). Part of the Recovery Act of 2009, RTTT provided $4.35 billion to encourage states to adopt standards. Echoing earlier standards efforts, RTTT urged the adoption of standards to prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and compete in the global economy. In effect, RTTT encouraged states to adopt the Common Core Standards.94

By 2014 the Common Core Standards were under attack from diverse opponents. Some conservatives believed the Standards were an attempt to create a national curriculum, which violated the historic tradition of state and local control of education. Others, like Diane Ravitch, a noted historian of education, opposed the Common Core Standards as serving the market interests of “testing corporations, charter chains, and technology companies. The Standards, she argues, were adopted “behind closed doors” without participation of educators and the public. While not opposed to the concept of standards, Ravitch argued that they should “not be rigid, inflexible, and prescriptive” and should permit teachers to adapt them to their students’ needs.95 See the Taking Issue Box on the previous page.

5-7a connecting with the History of education throughout this Book

This chapter relates the general historical context of American education to other chapters in this book. It provides the historical background for the following: ● Chapter 7, Governing and Administering Public Education, which discusses the federal government’s educational role and the establishment of the US Department of Education. ● Chapter 12, Providing Equal Educational Opportunity, which discusses racial desegregation, compensatory education, bilingual education, education for children with disabilities, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, and No Child Left Behind. ● Chapter 13, The Changing Purposes of American Education, which discusses major policy reports such as High School and a Nation at Risk.

94See www.ed.gov. 95“Everything you need to know about Common Core—Ravitch,” The Washington Post (December 1, 2014) at www.washingtonpost.com.

summing up

1. The European colonists transported and established religious and socioeconomic class-based educational institutions in North America. Primary vernacular schools provided a basic curriculum of reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion. The Latin grammar school and the colonial college, reserved for upper-class boys and men, provided a classical curriculum to prepare them for leadership roles in church, state, and society. 2. In the early national period, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Rush proposed plans for a uniquely American school system; Noah Webster’s plan used an

American version of the English language to create the country’s national identity. 3. The common school, the nineteenth century prototype for the public elementary school, contributed to the development of teacher education, especially normal schools, and the entry of more women into teaching. 4. The public high school in the late nineteenth century completed the American educational ladder that connected public elementary schools to state colleges and universities. Important historical influences in shaping American

higher education were the Morrill Act, the German research concept, the GI Bill, and the rise of community colleges. 5. The United States is a racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse nation; the public policy toward this pluralism has ranged from Americanization in the nineteenth century to multiculturalism in the twentieth. 6. Since the mid-twentieth century, the infusion of technology, especially computers, has been transforming education and creating global economic and communications systems. 7. The controversy over Common Core Standards can been seen as a continuation of the basic education movement, A

Nation at Risk, and the No Child Left Behind Act.

SuggeSted ReSouRceS

InTERnET REsouRCEs

For primary sources, access “Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography,” at the Early America website. For a biography and chronology on Jefferson, access “Monticello’s Online Resources” at the Monticello website. For Rush’s essay on education, access “Benjamin Rush on Public

Schooling” at the School Choices website. For a tour, history, research, and activities of the colonial period, access the Colonial Williamsburg website. For Jefferson documents, access the Thomas Jefferson Digital

Archive at the University of Virginia website. For biographies of Mary Lyon, Jane Addams, Catharine Beecher, and other leaders in women’s rights and education, access the resource center at the National Women’s History Project website. For a biography and resources on W. E. B. Du Bois, access the

W.E.B. Du Bois website. For images and discussion of the Chinese in California and the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II, go to

“Collections” at the Bancroft Library website. For resources on one-room schools, access One-Room Schools at the Iowa Pathways web page. For a “Day at School,” access the Clarke Historical Library website. For resources on African American, Native American, and immigration history, access the American Memories Collection at the Library of Congress website. To read more about Indian Boarding Schools, access “Indian

Boarding Schools in the Pacific Northwest,” at the University

Libraries, University of Washington website, and “American

Indian Boarding Schools Haunt Many,” at the NPR website

PublICATIons

Austin, Allan W. From Concentration Camps to Campus: Japanese

American Students and World War II. Urbana: University of

Illinois Press, 2004. Discusses how Japanese Americans overcame the trauma of internment during World War II. Chan, Sucheng, and Madeline Y. Hsu, eds. Chinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008. An anthology of essays on Chinese American history, culture, and identity. Collins, Allan, and Richard Halverson. Rethinking Education in the

Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in

America. New York: Teachers College Press, 2009. Discusses how technology is transforming American education. Connolly, Paula T. Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790–2010. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2013. A commentary on the treatment of slavery in children’s books that is especially useful for teachers in understanding how children form their ideas about the topic. Davis, Julie L. The American Indian Movement and Community

Education in the Twin Cities. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013. Focuses on education as an agency to improve the conditions of Native Americans. Del Moral, Solsiree. Negotiating Empire: The Cultural Politics of

Schools in Puerto Rico, 1898–1952. Madison: University of

Wisconsin Press, 2013. Discusses how Puerto Rico’s teachers mediated between American education and Puerto Rican identity. Fleegler, Robert L. Ellis Island Nation: Immigration Policy and

American Identity in the Twentieth Century. Philadelphia:

University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013. Examines the changes in the US immigration policy from the 1882

Chinese Exclusion Act to the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. Gandara, Patricia, and Frances Contreras. The Latino Education

Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies. Cambridge,

MA: Harvard University Press, 2010. Provides a policy analysis on the impact of social and educational policies on Latino education. Gutek, Gerald L. An Historical Introduction to American Education. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2013. Provides a topical approach to the historical development of educational institutions in the United States. Kloosterman, Valentina. Latino Students in American Schools:

Historical and Contemporary Views. New York: Praeger, 2003.

Discusses the education of Latino students in a historical perspective. Kolodny, Kelly A. Normalites: The First Professionally Prepared

Teachers in the United States. Charlotte, NC: Information Age

Publishing, 2014. Provides an insightful and engaging commentary on the education of teachers in normal schools.

Lassone, Cynthia A., Robert J. Michael, and Jerusalem Rivera-

Wilson. Current Issues in Teacher Education: History, Perspectives, and Implications. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2008.

Provides historical background on selected contemporary issues in teacher education. McMahon, Lucia. Mere Equals: The Paradox of Educated Women in the Early American Republic. Ithaca: Cornell university Press, 2012. Explores early national women’s education, examining tensions between the concept of intellectual equality and persistent traditional gender restrictions. Mitchell, Mary Niall. Raising Freedom’s Child: Black Children and

Visions of the Future after Slavery. New york: New york university Press, 2008. Examines African American schooling in the general cultural context of emancipation from slavery. Moore, Jacqueline M. Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and the Struggle for Racial Uplift. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly

Resources, 2003. Presents a well-balanced examination of the differences between Washington and Du Bois as well as alternatives to their positions. ogren, Christine A. The American State Normal School: “An Instrument of Great Good.” New york: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

Develops a historical appraisal of the importance of normal schools in the history of American teacher education. Patterson, James T. Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights

Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy. New york: oxford university Press, 2001. Examines the highly significant case that ended legally sanctioned racial segregation in the United

States. Provenzo, Jr., Eugene F. Du Bois on Education. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002. Provides a well-edited and comprehensive collection of Du Bois’s major works on education and an extensive bibliography. Reyhner, Jon A., and Jeanne M. oyawin Eder. American Indian

Education: A History. Norman: university of oklahoma Press,

2006. Provides a comprehensive history of American Indian education, including discussions of missionary, government, and boarding schools. San Miguel Jr., guadalupe. Chicana/o Struggles for Education:

Activism in the Community. College Station: Texas A&M university Press, 2013. Examines the changing educational patterns that have shaped the education of Mexican American children. Shaw, Stephanie J. W.E.B. Du Bois and The Souls of Black Folk.

Chapel hill: university of North Carolina Press, 2013.

Provides a thorough analysis of how Du Bois’s philosophy shaped his book. Spack, Ruth. America’s Second Tongue: American Indian Education and the Ownership of English, 1860–1900. Lincoln: university of Nebraska Press, 2002. Examines English-language instruction in terms of federal policy and Indian schools. urban, Wayne J., and Jennings L. Wagoner, Jr. American Education: A History. New york: Routledge, 2008. Provides a comprehensive analysis of the major periods of American history of education in the broad context of national and international events. Valencia, Richard. Chicano Students and the Courts: The Mexican

American Legal Struggle for Educational Equality. New york:

New york university Press, 2008. An in-depth treatment of issues on the legal rights of Chicano students such as school organization, financing, bilingual and bicultural education, and undocumented students. Watras, Joseph. A History of American Education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2007. This well-written and carefully organized history of American education examines the implications of the ideas of leading educators and reform movements for teachers and schools in a historical perspective.

Chapter6

INTASC STANdARdS AddRESSEd IN ThIS ChApTER

1 Learner Development 2 Learning Differences 4 Content Knowledge 5 Application of Content 7 Planning for Instruction 8 Instructional Strategies 9 Professional Learning and

Ethical Practice

PhilosoPhical Roots of Education

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

6-1 Relate philosophy’s special terminology of metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, and logic to education. 6-2 Appraise the relevance of idealism’s goal of intellectual and spiritual growth in contemporary education and schools. 6-3 Explain realism’s emphasis on classifying and categorizing subjects in the curriculum in relation to its view of reality. 6-4 Design lessons based on pragmatist epistemology that applies the scientific method to problem solving. 6-5 Generalize the existentialist belief that “existence precedes essence” to learning and social situations in high school. 6-6 Apply postmodernist deconstruction to a chapter in a textbook that you are using in a college course or to a textbook in a subject that you are teaching. 6-7 Construct curriculum models that reflect essentialist principles. 6-8 Select three books that meet the perennialist criteria of a “great book” for inclusion on the reading list of a high school class in American literature. 6-9 Design an elementary school field trip that is based on the childcentered progressive project method. 6-10 Appraise the critical theory argument that the official curriculum reinforces the domination of favored groups and marginalizes the contributions of disadvantaged ones.

This chapter was revised by Gerald L. Gutek.

Bingham II / Alamy Richard G.