Some questions about education in the United States are easier to answer than others. If one wants to compare curriculum requirements across states, the data can be acquired and conclusions announced. However, any discussion of philosophy of learning or results of some pedagogy or another requires a look at what others have thought about,…

The classic "Slaughterhouse-Five" (1969/1991) and other writings of American novelist, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., resonate with young people and are sometimes part of the required curriculum in secondary schools, which necessitates an exploration of the ideas and ideals to which youngsters are exposed. This article explores the Atomic Age through this…

Schools are public entities that reflect the inequalities of communities; inequalities in race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Public schools privilege males through power in leadership positions such as the principalship. This privilege is historically ingrained in the public school structure and invisible to stakeholders. This article…

In recent years, there has been considerable and renewed interest in the effects of McCarthyism on academia. Ellen Schrecker's "No Ivory Tower" (1986), Lionel Lewis' "Cold War on Campus" (1988), David Holmes' "Stalking the Academic Communist" (1989), Charles McCormick's "This Nest of Vipers" (1989), Neil Hamilton's "Zealotry and Academic Freedom"…

In Central America the Cold War support of the elites by the United States was designed to ward off the communist threat. At the same time social and economic demands by the working and middle classes created revolutionary movements in the face of rigid and violent responses by Central American governments. Issues of social justice pervaded the…

In the post-World War II era, efforts to improve the accessibility and quality of higher education rose to prominence in US educational debates and policymaking. In retrospect, a confluence of factors helped to forge this growing social consensus about the need to create educational opportunity and to diversify the nation's colleges and…

This paper presents an early phase of a research on the history of Alabama State College Laboratory School, 1920 to 1969. The research contributes new, critical history to the current story of segregated schooling and offers a more complete picture as to the richness that the African American culture, community, and dedication to educational…

When one reads scholars from the past, many of the same problems found in schools in 2009 are quite similar to the problems educators were complaining about more than a century ago. One of the current controversial topics in schools today, for example, is student success, or lack thereof, in mathematics. Because of differences in mathematics…

Most historians interested in the cultural history of nineteenth-century America are familiar with the lyceum movement, first popularized by Massachusetts' Josiah Holbrook. While lyceums were extremely popular during the 1820s and 1830s, they disappeared with the advent of the Civil War--though later providing inspiration for Chautauquan lectures…

In this essay, the author provides a critique of sources relevant to the feminization of teaching in the United States from the mid- to late-nineteenth century. Sources covering topics such as the American Civil War, labor market forces, increasing urbanization, educational reform, and regional differences, and how they affected the feminization…

A number of authors have drawn connections between progressive education and the Social Gospel movement, the Second Great Awakening, and other phenomena of 19th century America. In most cases these authors have focused on progressive educators from Protestant backgrounds, but progressivism reached into other American subcultures. Felix Adler was…

In "Managers of Virtue: Public School Leadership in America, 1820-1980," education historians David Tyack and Elisabeth Hansot (1982) offer a model for understanding the evolution of U. S. public school leadership from the mid-nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries. The authors assert that prior to 1890, common school "crusaders"…

This paper begins with an overview of the location and types of nursery schools reported to be operating in Texas between 1934 and 1943. The author reports on the results of the analysis of the photographs used in this study. The analysis is supported and contextualized by the use of references from federal documents and other publications…

America has an over 200 year tradition of underground publications spanning a wide range of social and political expression. One notable period in this tradition was the era of the 1960s and early 1970s, and students' efforts to express themselves and challenge the status quo. Student attention was drawn to issues such as the Vietnam War, women's…

For more than a century, high school students in the United States have been required to take at least one course in United States History. Almost every U.S. history textbook used for these courses covers the Texas Revolution in one way or another. Since the Texas Revolution is a significant part of American history, the authors chose to focus…