Schooling America: How the Public Schools Meet the Nation's Changing Needs

by Patricia Albjerg Graham

Book Overview

In this informative volume, Patricia Graham, one of America's most esteemed historians of education, offers a vibrant history of American education in the last century. Drawing on a wide array of sources, from government reports to colorful anecdotes, Graham skillfully illustrates Americans' changing demands for our schools, and how schools have responded by providing what critics want, though never as completely or as quickly as they would like...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195315847
• ISBN13: 9780195315844
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Praise for Schooling America

"Schooling America is a readable, intelligent, and well-informed synthesis of the history of American education." -- Diane Ravitch, Research Professor of Education, New York University; author of The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn "One of the country's most respected historians of education presents a compelling picture of how and why American schooling changed over the last, tumultuous century. Using a wide range of sources, from government reports to personal anecdotes, the former dean of Harvard University's graduate school of education shows readers how historical forces such as immigration, industrialization, and the civil rights movement shaped and reshaped the public's expectations of what schools should be and how they should operate. Her historical insights provide a valuable backdrop for the study of current debates." -- EducationWeek "Schooling America is an admirably informative, sensible and balanced account of how schools and colleges in the United States have developed since 1900, written by one of the most informed and thoughtful scholars of education in the United States." -- Derek Bok, President Emeritus, Harvard University "A thoughtful, insightful analysis by a brilliant scholar and educational leader. Must reading for everyone who cares about our public schools." -- Donna Shalala, President, University of Miami "In her provocative and tremendously optimistic book on American education, Pat Graham provides a wonderful history of education reform and does not stop there. Rather than focusing on the failings of our school system, she celebrates the promise of youth and challenges us to be bold in our thinking as we go forward. Schooling America is a must-read for anyone who wishes to be touched by Graham's high hopes for the advancement of our children and the future of our country." -- Ramon Cortines, former Chancellor of New York City Schools "A welcome, concise and readable history of American schooling and our ceaseless efforts to change it, well presented by an eminent education historian." -- Chester E. Finn, Jr., Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; President, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation "An outstanding and immensely readable book about values and opportunity in America dressed in the cloth of education history. Pat Graham again demonstrates her scholarship, clear insight and the priority and hope she always reserves for children whom we have historically failed in our schools." -- David Hornbeck, President, Children's Defense Fund "Pat Graham ably and eloquently reminds us that public education is a constantly unfolding national commitment and that the duties and responsibilities of educators, policymakers, parents, students and citizens evolve and respond to shifting political, social, economic, and ideological forces. Schooling America, written by a keen-eyed observer and analyst, draws the reader into a guided journey that explores how our nation's sch