The relationship between education and broad changes in American society is explored in these chapters, most of which were previously published essays. The first part of the book examines families, schools, and the challenges of economic opportunity. Chapter 1 examines the relation between family and schooling in colonial 19th-century America, exploring the shift toward dependence on the public schools for education. Chapter 2 considers early childhood education in the 1820s and 1830s, and chapter 3 examines the crisis in moral education in Massachusetts schools in the mid-19th century. Chapter 4 considers schooling for the disadvantaged and the economic consequences of early educational programs for the poor. Chapter 5 examines the ideas of Horace Mann, especially those about the economic consequences of education. Chapter 6 analyzes the relationship between schooling and the assimilation of immigrants in the past. The second half of the book looks at school attendance, institutional arrangements, and social support for education, concentrating on high schools in chapters 7, 8, and 9. The historical development of age stratification in high school is reviewed in chapter 10, and chapter 11 concludes with an examination of support for schooling throughout U.S. history. (Contains 9 figures, 13 tables, and 509 references.) (SLD)