11th Edition

The American School From the Puritans to the Trump Era

By Joel Spring Copyright 2027
560 Pages 18 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

560 Pages 18 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This comprehensive history of American education is designed to stimulate critical analysis and critical thinking by offering alternative interpretations of each historical period. In his signature straight-forward, concise style, Joel Spring provides a variety of interpretations of American schooling, from conservative to progressive, in order to spark the reader’s own critical thinking about... Read more

1. Thinking Critically about History

2. Globalization and Religion in Colonial Education

3. Nationalism, Multiculturalism, and Moral Reform in the New Republic

4. The Ideology and Politics of the Common School

5. The Common School and the Threat of Cultural Pluralism

6. Organizing the American School: Teachers and Bureaucracy

7. Multiculturalism and the Failure of the Common School Ideal

8. Global Migration and the Growth of the Welfare Function of Schools

9. Human Capital: High School, Junior High School, and Vocational Guidance and Education

10. Scientific School Management: Testing, Immigrants, and Experts

11. The Politics of Knowledge: Teachers’ Unions, the American Legion, and the American Way

12. Schools, Media, and Popular Culture: Influencing the Minds of Children and Teenagers

13. American Schools and Global Politics: The Cold War and Poverty

14. The Fruits of Globalization: Civil Rights, Global Migration, and Multicultural Education

15. Globalization, Religion, Free Markets, and Human Capital: From Nixon to Trump

16. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Versus Meritocracy: The Biden-Trump Years

Biography

Joel Spring is Professor Emeritus at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, USA.