Full Description
In this fascinating collection, some of the foremost historians of education—including Barbara Beatty, Larry Cuban, Linda Eisenmann, Yoon Pak, John Rury, and Jonathan Zimmerman—debunk commonly held myths about American schooling. Each short, readable chapter focuses on one myth, explaining what the real history is and how it helped shape education today. Contributors take on a host of tall tales, including the supposed agrarian origins of summer vacation; exaggerated stories of declining student behavior and academic performance; persistent claims that some people are born to be teachers; idealistic notions that the 1954 Brown decision ended segregation in American schools; misleading beliefs that classrooms operate in ways designed to fit the industrial era; and more. 23 Myths About the History of American Schools will awaken the inner history nerd of everyone who ever asked, "How did we get this crazy school system?" It will affirm the truth that its readers are as entitled to think critically about schooling as anyone else.
Book Features:
Examines how the history of American education has been distorted and misrepresented, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Provides important stories that can help guide discussion about the future of education.
Anticipates what local and state politicians are likely to say (and misstate) about schooling.
Provides engaging chapters that highlight why real history is important and more fascinating than the myths.
Accessible to a wide range of readers from undergraduates to career educators.
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments v
Introduction: Of Education Myths and History 1
David A. Gamson and Sherman Dorn
Part I: Origin Myths
1. The Myth of the Little Red Schoolhouse 11
Jonathan Zimmerman
2. The Myth of a Purely Religious Motive for Harvard's Establishment 20
A. J. Angulo
3. The Myth of Summer Vacation and the Agrarian Calendar 30
Kenneth Gold
4. The Myth of Local Control 42
Campbell F. Scribner
5. The Myth of Industrial-Era Classrooms 50
Sherman Dorn
Part II: MYTHS OF PROGRESS AND DECLINE
6. The Myth of Declining Student Behavior 61
Judith Kafka
7. The Myth of Faulty City Schools 73
John L. Rury
8. The Myth of American School Decline 81
David A. Gamson
9. The Myth That U.S. Schools Were Desegregated in 1954 90
Hope C. Rias
10. Reframing the Myth of School Reform Failure: Clocking School Change 98
Larry Cuban
Part III: MYTHS ABOUT TEACHERS
11. The Myth That Good Teachers Are Born, Not Made 109
Kate Rousmaniere
12. The Myth of Heroic Teachers in Special Education 118
Neil Dhingra, Joel Miller, and Kristen Chmielewski
13. The Myth That Elementary Writing Instruction Is Recent 127
Joan M. Taylor
14. The Myth That Schoolteachers Take the Summer Off 140
Christine A. Ogren
15. The Myth of Harmful Teacher Tenure 149
Diana D'Amico Pawlewicz
Part IV: MYTHS ABOUT INEVITABILITY
16. The Du Bois-Washington Myth of Black Male Educational Thinkers 161
Dellyssa Edinboro
17. The Myth of Gender Dominance in Higher Education 169
Linda Eisenmann
18. The Myth of the Asian American Model Minority, American Individualism, and Meritocracy 178
Sharon S. Lee and Yoon K. Pak
Part V: MYTH-ING VOICES AND QUESTIONS
19. The Myth of De Facto Segregation 191
Ansley T. Erickson and Andrew R. Highsmith
20. The Myth That Technology Will Modernize Teaching 204
Victoria Cain
21. The Myth That School Spending Doesn't Affect Student Outcomes 213
Matthew Gardner Kelly
22. The Myth That Preschool Education Is a Panacea 223
Barbara Beatty
23. The Myth of Patriotic Education as a Unifying Force 232
Cody Dodge Ewert
About the Editors and the Contributors 239
Index 243
