Teacher education remains a largely unexplored area within the history of American education. This paper is an example of the types of state-specific stories that are needed as university administrators and policymakers make critical decisions about the content and purpose of teacher ed curriculum. These decisions, in turn, have a direct impact on…

Background/Context: Most people who study the history and philosophy of education have heard of essentialism, but few people know the story behind how, when, and why the movement came to exist. This paper tells this story for the first time. Purpose/Conclusions: This essay has three purposes. First, it provides an introduction to the life and…

This essay raises the question, "Is there a future for the teaching profession?" Beginning with a brief story illustrating the difficulties teachers and teacher educators face, this essay addresses three topics educators must address if the profession is to thrive: teaching and research within universities, the recruitment of educators, and the…

This article draws upon the history of teacher education to provide an introduction to four competing pedagogical philosophies. These four philosophies battled for control over curriculum for teachers during the period from 1890 to 1930. I begin by defining curriculum for teachers to include the liberal, the professional, and the experiential…

This essay challenges the conventional understanding of William Bagley and Arthur Bestor, which suggests that they held similar views in curriculum and teacher education. The author thinks this view is completely wrong and provides a radical new interpretation of Bagley and Bestor that uncovers a lost tradition within the field of education.…

This article takes a closer look at Ralph Waldo Emerson's educational philosophy and its relationship to cooperative learning. Emerson believed that human beings should learn to think on their own, rather than solely acquire the craft of imitation or conformity by repeating the speech of their teachers. A liberating education, to Emerson, gives…