School: The Story of American Public Education

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It gives you an overall view of our public school system in an easy to read format much like a novel. I recommend this book to all educators or students of education.

This is a required book for my Master's class. It is insightful and compelling. I will keep it in my personal library, even after class has ended.

That a book entitled School : The Story of American Public Education is not all things to all people is not surprising. The book is limited in scope to a history of public education in the United States. It says so in the title. It is not a book on home schooling, private schools, schools outside the U.S., a history of people who disagree profoundly with the American Public School System or a broad study of educational methods. The title pretty much sums this up. This book has several strong points:1) It's written is a succinct prose style. This isn't necessarily a boon to education majors, but it's a good thing for the general public. It's hard to make education sound interesting, and this book does a pretty good job. As a special sidelight, this book will interest thinking people inside the school system. It may even be picked up by teenagers, those currently most ensconced in the U.S. system of public education.2) It is one of the only books available to non-professionals. It's fairly easy to get information, dates, a rundown of the major players in educational theory/movements, and an idea about what those involved in the educational system thought about their schools at the time. It isn't one stop shopping, but it is a good start.3)The accompanying photographs are marvelous. Nothing illustrates the crowding of the tenement schools, he desperate situation of child laborers in the early part of the 20th century, or the inclusion protests of the 1960's and 1970's quite like the pictures.4) It is possible to read between the lines. Although the book doesn't explicitly link ideas like the push from German Immigrants to get their children out of the "shop" track and into college prep. and the current debates about bilingual education, a reasonable person is able to gather enough information to make that leap given the information in this book.The books limits include:1)Pollyanna does live here. The underlying message is that the public school system is a miraculous thing, and that if left alone will be able to solve any crisis it encounters. There isn't any criticism of this idea, but "a critical history" never appears in the write up.2)Nobody wants to win one for the Gipper. After 1980 the book is biased against the "bottom line, business oriented" approach heralded in with "A Nation at Risk." This is where I was most disappointed in this book. I'm not looking for that kind of bias in my reference books, and it is undeniably there.Final analysis:Buy this book for your middle school and high school library. Let your home schooler read it with other texts. Do not base your Ph.D. in educational theory on this text. Try to use it with other articles critical of public education or positive about home schooling, charter schools, or vouchers. And, as always, please think about what you read.

Any book that is able to stir up the emotional muck present in the heads of others (...) ... must have something going for it!Personally, I didn't read the book. I did watch the entire series aired on Public Television. I also attempted to purchase that video series, but those tapes are not available (...). At least, not as of 12/01.I found the series very interesting, well balanced and documented. Yes, had a different group of folks put something together on this topic ... the presentation and content would have differed. Thus is the nature of any historical presentation, especially when it does not involve first-hand observation and experience. Lacking that, researchers are limited to their interpretations of the available evidence. I did not detect a significant bias in the presentation of any of the material (but then I do not consider myself to be an expert in the subject either!).While the book may be a mirror image companion to the TV presentation, such is the nature of many of the current TV documentary/book combos. I don't have a problem with that, and I don't have an emotional axe to grind concerning this subject.I completely enjoyed the video series and would purchase the book ... if I really believed I would ever have the time to read it (...) ;-)

On a school day, almost a quarter of the U.S. population is either in a public school or working in an administrative position for a public school. How are we doing with this enormous enterprise? To answer that question, School begins with the origins of the free public school in New England cities and takes it into the present experiments to follow the model of major corporations and the marketplace. Along the way, if you are like me, you'll come away more impressed with what has been accomplished.The common themes have been local versus central control over education, honoring diversity versus meeting standards, and liberty versus equality. General progress has occurred in being more inclusive (minorities and women), helping people become assimilated into American culture (especially through literacy and citizenship), and learning talents needed to be a productive member of a more educated society. Part one looks at the Common School from 1770-1900. These were formed in response to the Protestant concept that people needed to be able to read the Bible and interpret it for themselves. At the time of the Revolution, 90 percent of white males and 60 percent of white females could read a little and sign their names. Massachusetts led the way in making school conditions better under Horace Mann. A top priority of the new republic was to get rid of British texts so that American ideals could be learned. Thomas Jefferson had a visionary plan (which looks pretty inadequate now) that was rejected. By the end of the period, Catholic immigrants felt disrespected by the materials and methods directed by the Protestant elites. Private Catholic schools started to fill the gap.In part two, 1900-1950, the book looks at the role of the public school in "Americanizing immigrants." "The United States led the world in fulfilling the promise of universal access to schooling." In 1900, most left after the 8th grade. By 1950, most continued through high school and college attendance started to soar. Child labor laws were passed to get kids out of sweatshops and factories and into school with compulsory attendance laws, as well. In part three, 1950-1980, you will see the challenges of Sputnik, a desire for science education, and the importance of integration and creating real equality of opportunity.In part four, 1980-2000, we look at the vocationalization of the pbulic schools built around the "successes" of companies like IBM, Xerox, Ford, and others. As I read this, I was fascinated to see that these "models" are all companies that have faltered badly for at least part of the last two decades. The authors suggest that this last period for public schools has not been very successful. Charter schools seem like a potentially successful experiment. The illustrations in the book are terrific, showing teachers, students, facilities, and texts. The occasional statistics were very interesting to me, and I would have enjoyed much more of that. I mos