Background/Context: In recent decades, professional historians have made considerable efforts to reestablish influence over the teaching of history in American schools. This movement has rested upon a generally accepted historical narrative based on four assertions; first, that during the 1900s and 1910s, professional historians dominated the…

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…

Background/Context: This article is part of a special issue on the 50th anniversary of the publication of Hannah Arendt's essay, "The Crisis in Education" and her book The Human Condition. Despite the proliferation of books and articles on Arendt's work since the mid-90s, "The Crisis in Education" does not figure all that much in writing on…

This article encourages teachers to think about how they teach. Teachers must pay attention to their actions, interventions, and their own life history. The vision and value of teaching are explored. (DF)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's views on children, adults, and nature complement and redeem the one-sided attitude of our present-day habits of thought. Goethe's writings about natural history and the relationship between the individual and society illustrate how teaching can be less a branch of technology than an art. (PP)

Background/Context: William H. Kilpatrick is known worldwide as "Mr. Project Method." Despite considerable scholarship by Lawrence A. Cremin, Herbert M. Kliebard, Milton A. Bleeke, John A. Beineke, and others, the origin of Kilpatrick's celebrated paper of 1918 has never been explored in depth and its historical context. Focus of Study:…

The views of George I. Sanchez are examined to determine what an earlier generation of Hispanic-American educators thought about bilingual education. Sanchez stressed integrating Spanish-speaking children into Anglo classrooms and downplayed the need for a new pedagogy, such as bilingual instruction. (PP)