Full Description
Can public schools in America be saved? This book considers theory, current practice, and the common school ideal through a historical lens to arrive at practical suggestions for reforming contemporary public education.
Despite dramatic, sweeping changes in recent decades, a strong case can be made for guiding the reformation of contemporary public education in the United States on common school ideology of the nineteenth century. The author argues that the common school remains a public institution capable of preparing America's youth to contribute to the community in a positive manner, and that education must be treated at a public good where all children—regardless of social class—have a right to a quality education. The work includes a thorough overview of Horace Mann's writings on K-12 public education that support the common school ideal—concepts that are over 150 years old, yet still highly relevant today.
Contents
Acknowledgments
1 Horace Mann and the Common School Ideology
The Idea of Public Education for All
The Importance of Theory and History in Education Reform
Public versus Private Institutions
The Common School Ideology of the 1830s and 1840s
Horace Mann's Common School Ideology in the Contemporary World and Beyond
2 The Market-Based Ideology and Politics of the Conservative Right
Twentieth-Century Conservative Philosophers
The Impact of Conservatism on American Politics since 1980
Policy Implications of the Market-Based Ideology and Conservative Political Philosophy
3 Education and the Politics of Federalism
The Abstract Nature of the Federalism Debate
The Evolution of Federalism in the United States
The Whig Party of the Nineteenth Century
National Intervention in K-12 Public Education
The Serious and Somber Policy Implications of NCLB
4 Education and the Politics of Consumerism and Conservatism
The McGuffey Readers of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
Consumerism Defined
The Evolution of the Consumer Ideology
The Commercialization of Public Education
A Century-Old Illusion
5 Education in the Early Twenty-First Century
K-12 Public School Desegregation
School Choice in the Contemporary World
Revisiting the School Choice Debate
6 Citizenship in a Republican Form of Government in the Twenty-First Century
The Omnipresent Reality of Systems Theory
The Role of the Citizen in a Republic
Political Participation in a Republic
The More Proactive Citizen in the American Republic
7 Education: A Public Good Worth Defending
The Need for a Fearless Advocate of Public Education
Revisiting the Individualist Creed in the United States
What Is a Public Good?
8 Blueprint for Progressive Reform
Reform Premise A: Maintain Horace Mann's Common School Ideal
Reform Premise B: Maintain and Expand Civic Education in the Public Schools
Reform Premise C: Repeal NCLB in Its Entirety and Deemphasize High-Stakes Standardized Testing
Reform Premise D: Reduce Poverty in America
Reform Premise E: Citizens Must Become More Engaged in the Electoral Process
Reform Premise F: Embrace the Communitarian Philosophy
Reform Premise G: Revisit Federal Budgetary Priorities
Reform Premise H: Rethinking the Status Quo with Regard to the School Year and the School Day
Reform Premise I: Minimize the Influence of Business in Public Education
Reform Premise J: Students, Parents, and Caregivers Are Part of the Solution
A Concluding Comment
Notes
Bibliography
Index
