Brian L. Fife

Old School Still Matters (eBook, PDF)

Lessons from History to Reform Public Education in America

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

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.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
• Seitenzahl: 352
• Altersempfehlung: ab 7 Jahre
• Erscheinungstermin: 12. August 2013
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780313398100
• Artikelnr.: 68184427

Autorenporträt

Brian L. Fife is professor and chair of the Department of Public Policy at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. His publications include Old School Still Matters: Lessons from History to Reform Public Education in America.

Inhaltsangabe

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