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235

The Dark History of School Choice

How an argument for segregated schools became a rallying cry for privatizing public education.
by Diane Ravitch via New York Review of Books on January 4, 2021
Girls and boys in a 19th century classroom.
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The End of Men, in 1870

In 1790, U.S. men were about twice as likely as U.S. women to be literate. But by 1870, girls were surpassing boys in public schools.
by Livia Gershon, David Tyack, Elizabeth Hansot via JSTOR Daily on December 2, 2019
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Betsy DeVos Wants to Resurrect an Old — and Failed — Model of Public Education

Government-funded schools evolved from a broader system of public education that couldn't provide what students needed.
by Adam Laats via Made by History on May 16, 2019

Have We Lost Faith in Public Education?

Economic rationales for schooling are eroding democracy.
by Johann N. Neem via Perspectives on History on July 26, 2018
Schoolchildren writing on a chalkboard.
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The New Tax Law Poses a Hidden Threat to American Democracy

Undermining public education will exacerbate polarization and mistrust.
by Johann N. Neem, Tony Tian-Ren Lin via Made by History on January 8, 2018
First grade teacher instructing Spanish pronunciation in Texas.
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Helping Latino Kids Succeed in the Classroom Doesn’t Have to be an Ideological War

Conservatives backed bilingual education until it became a progressive cause.
by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela via Made by History on September 21, 2017
Demonstrators protesting new history curriculum
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How The Culture Wars Destroyed Public Education

The left's Pyrrhic victory in the culture wars.
by Andrew Hartman via Made by History on September 5, 2017
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The Founding Fathers Made Our Schools Public. We Should Keep Them That Way.

They believed public schools were the foundation of a virtuous republic.
by Johann N. Neem via Made by History on August 20, 2017

Why Do Schoolhouses Matter?

The rise of public education in America.
by Johann N. Neem via Public Seminar on July 20, 2017
Students in Winnetka, Ill., are checked by a nurses as shown here on return to school following illness. 1947.
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To Address the Teen Mental Health Crisis, Look to School Nurses

For more than a century, school nurses have improved public health in schools and beyond.
by Sherrie Page Guyer via Made by History on May 8, 2024
Blue-print style sketch of a suburban home, with sidewalk, driveway, and garage

How the Suburbs Became a Trap

Neighborhoods that once promised prosperity now offer crumbling infrastructure, aged housing stock, and social animus.
by Caitlin Zaloom via The New Republic on April 18, 2024
Sign on fence reading "This is a D.A.R.E. drug free school zone."

D.A.R.E. Is More Than Just Antidrug Education—It Is Police Propaganda

DARE lost its once hegemonic influence over drug education, but it had long-lasting effects on American policing, politics, and culture.
by Max Felker-Kantor via Public Books on April 17, 2024
Book cover of Counterrevolution by Melinda Cooper.

A Tax Haven in a Heartless World: On Melinda Cooper’s “Counterrevolution”

Why should taxpayers fund schools that violate their own values, the Moms for Liberty wonder? A new book traces how this kind of thinking about public spending came to be.
by Sarah Brouillette via Los Angeles Review of Books on April 15, 2024
From left: schoolchildren, their teacher, and Nancy Reagan look on as a police officer talks about the DARE program

The Kids Who Snitched on Their Families Because DARE Told Them To

The program was about education. But it was also about surveillance.
by Max Felker-Kantor via Slate on September 30, 2023
John Birch Society book store.

A Mid-Century Playbook for Saving Progressive American Education

Fifty years ago, parents united to get the far-right John Birch Society out of their schools.
by Matthew Dallek via Zócalo Public Square on September 19, 2023
Freedpeople sit at Foller’s House in Cumberland Landing, Va., 1862.

If “Woke” Dies, Our Nation’s Truths Die with It

Ron DeSantis wants to retrofit history to conform to conservative ideology.
by Tera W. Hunter via Hammer & Hope on August 30, 2023
Members of Moms for Liberty stand outside a school, one holding a sign reading "I don't co-parent with the government."

Moms for Liberty Is Riding High. It Should Beware What Comes Next.

Yelling about schools gets people riled up. The outcome can be unpredictable.
by Adam Laats via Slate on August 29, 2023
Cliff Joseph's art, Blackboard, 1969. One adult and one young Black person stand in front of a blackboard.

The Long War on Black Studies

It would be a mistake to think of the current wave of attacks on “critical race theory” as a culture war. This is a political battle.
by Robin D. G. Kelley via New York Review of Books on June 17, 2023
Linda Brown Smith, Ethel Louise Belton Brown, Harry Briggs, Jr., and Spottswood Bolling, Jr., 1964
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Brown v. Board of Education: Annotated

The 1954 Supreme Court decision, based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, declared that “separate but equal” has no place in education.
by Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on May 17, 2023
Nine yearbook photos, including Langston Hughes'.
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Class Production

A collection of high school yearbooks from Cleveland captures the rise, fall, and uncertain future of the American middle class.
by Alex Houston via JSTOR Daily on May 15, 2023
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Exhibit

Public Education

From the politics of access and funding to the craft of teaching, debates about education have always boiled down to one fundamental question: What – and who – are public schools for?

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