A 1985 AFL-CIO report suggested that the steep decline in union affiliation among members of the working class might be related to the ways in which public schools shape student opinions on organized labor. During the Progressive era, labor educators and activists were also concerned that the civic education being provided working-class children…

A research study was undertaken to determine how U.S. history is taught and what is learned in Indiana public high schools. The objectives of the study included: (1) to ascertain the status of U.S. history in Indiana public schools; (2) to compare results of data with national literature; (3) to identify what is actually taught; (4) to ascertain…

The American public school is a political idea, as well as an educational institution, that is still awaiting full realization. Public schools fail to deliver the promised indiscriminate availability of educational goods and services. Discussions of that failure frequently revolve around the school's educational agenda and questions of pedagogy…

The public schools responsible for educating hundreds of thousands of East European Jewish immigrant children in New York City between 1893 and 1917 had three major goals: scholastic preparation, especially literacy in English, acculturation, and socioeconomic stratification. According to information obtained from interviews of students and…

This comparative historical analysis examines the official attitude of the Seattle (Washington) Public Schools toward Americanization and ethnic groups, specifically Japanese Americans, between 1916 and 1942. The paper contains seven major sections including: (1) "Objective and Rationale for Studying Seattle"; (2) "Methodology and…

This paper examines the history of the civic education of immigrants to the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was a time of great social upheaval, not only for the new immigrant groups, but also for members of groups that had arrived in the United States earlier. Public schools were seen as the logical institutions…

Looking back at the debates about public schooling in the 1820s can be especially important today when Congress seeks to reinscribe the same definitions of schooling that the working class leaders tried to resist in the 19th century. On the platform for the New York Working Man's Party in 1829 was "equal education," a term that meant…

To provide an understanding of the current controversial issues about civic education in U.S. schools, the historical interrelationships of schools, communities, and families and their bearings on civic education revolve around three basic themes in U.S. history. These themes are: (1) the cohesive value claims of a democratic political community;…

While the impact of schools in colonial America was soft before the mid-eighteenth century, devotion to education was strong and self-evident. By the early nineteenth century, schooling was well on its way to becoming universal for most children. As the nineteenth century wore on, the state became more and more involved in schooling. As taxation…

Five models are postulated for interpreting the three historical stages in the development of compulsory schooling in the United States. These three stages include (1) a symbolic stage where compulsory public school education began to gain strength but lacked enforcement procedures, (2) a bureaucratic phase beginning around 1900 where new…

The process by which the Mississippi History and Mississippi State and Local Government curricula were validated in the 1988-89 school year is described. The validation effort was part of a state program of review of the entire curriculum. The first validation panel consisted of 10 university professors, who reached consensus on the 35 objectives…

The importance of teaching moral education in the public schools is emphasized in this report. Three topics are discussed. The first section includes a sketch of the present moral climate of the United States, including evidence drawn from a recent Gallup Poll of public attitudes toward education, recent magazine articles, results of educational…

In spite of the claims of the conservatives, the principles underlying capitalism and democracy are not in concert with one another; they are, in fact, very much in conflict. The recent political changes in Eastern Europe need to be seen in greater complexity than simply the victory of the U.S. democratic-capitalist system over the communist…

In April 1917, the United States went to war, and the public schools across the nation initiated programs that encouraged patriotism, supported war policies, and promoted the assimilation of immigrants. In New York City in 1917-18, the Board of Education: (1) called for the unqualified allegiance of school principals and teachers to the U.S.…