The American Model of State and School
An Historical Inquiry
Published on 26. April 2012
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-4411-8842-7 (ISBN)
Description
State and Schools argues that the American educational model represents a third way of organizing the provision of schooling, and that this accounts for some of its strengths as well as some of its weaknesses. Charles L. Glenn looks closely at the tradition of democratic localism in the management of schooling, and the powerful and anti-democratic effect of the emerging education 'profession,' which has in some respects the characteristics of a religious movement more than of a true profession. A sweeping chronological survey, State and Schools includes chapters on the colonial background, schooling in the New Republic, the creation of an education profession, and the progressive education movement, among others. Glenn's primary purpose, in this authoritative and thoroughly researched book, is to illustrate the deep roots of ways of thinking about schools that have made it difficult for policy-makers and the public to do what needs to be done to enable schools to function as they should, for our society and for future generations.
Reviews / Votes
Reviewed by -- R.R. Sherman, emeritus, University of Florida * CHOICE *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Laminated cover
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
543 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4411-8842-7 (9781441188427)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Charles L. Glenn is Professor of Educational Leadership and Development at Boston University. He is the author of nine books including The Myth of the Common School (published also in Italian and Spanish), Educational Freedom in Eastern Europe, and co-author of a multi-volume study of educational policies in forty countries. From 1970 to 1991 Professor Glenn served as director of urban education and equity efforts for the Massachusetts Department of Education, and he has served as a consultant to Russian and Chinese education authorities, and to states and major cities across the United States.
Content
Introduction: Weakness and Strengths of the American Model; Chapter 1: Colonial Background; New England; Southern colonies; Mid-Atlantic colonies; Secondary Schools; Chapter 2: The Idea of Forming Citizens; Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Rush, and the Allies of Jefferson; Resistance to 'republican' education; Utopian Reformers; Evangelical and Humanitarian Initiatives; Chapter 3: Schooling in the New Republic; Schooling for poor children; Funding and local control; The blurred public/private distinction; Chapter 4: Schooling as Response to the Immigrant Threat; Chapter 5: The Educator-State; Horace Mann and Henry Barnard; Pennsylvania: moderate reform; Michigan: progress and retreat; California; Resistance to state leadership in popular schooling; State authority and its limits. Chapter 6: Creating an Education Profession; Redefining the Role of Women; The State and the Training of Teachers; Chapter 7: Religion Becomes the Focus of Controversy over Schools; Recapitulation of the Ante-Bellum Situation; The Developing Educational System after the Civil War; The Influence of Church/State Conflicts in Europe; Religious Expression in Public Schools; Public Support for Religious Schools; After the Second World War; Chapter 8: Progressive Education as Movement and as Influence; Kilpatrick and child-centered teaching; Dewey on democratic education; Progressive Education theory as established doctrine; Educational and political progressivism; Critics of Progressive Education; What's Left of Progressive Education? Chapter 9: Concluding Reflections; References.