Metanarratives--stories that are told and retold over time, so that they become the story--have proven instrumental in cultivating conceptions of the Founders as invariably honest, brave, and ethical. A prime example is the tale of George Washington confessing that he chopped down the cherry tree. While this narrative crafted an image of…

As de Tocqueville recognized, the U.S. democratic system relies on the advocacy of civic-minded individuals. Although U.S. history is replete with persons using different means to advance one or more democratic principles, VanSledright and Hess argued that secondary history education reinforces a persistent national narrative, one characterized by…

The author estimates the impacts of the local rate of unemployment and the Great Recession on the quit and graduation rates of the U.S. construction trade apprentices over the 2001-2014 period. Trade union participation in training sponsorship had a strong influence on attrition rates. The impacts of the business cycle and the Great Recession on…

The conclusion of World War II created anxiety about how to accommodate the return of millions of veterans and spurred the passage of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944--the GI Bill--that would ultimately send two million people to college. But in 1946, the second year of Truman's Presidency, there was an even larger political question. The…

Rapid changes in American society in the early twentieth century fostered both a general sense of optimism for America's future and a perceived sense of moral dislocation affecting present and future generations of America's youth. Urbanization, modernization, and the increasing presence of immigrant populations were often viewed as challenges to…

The nation's greatest anti-racist education policy -- school desegregation -- has proven no match for the adaptations of institutionalized racism. Over the last 40 years, school segregation has evolved and reemerged in housing patterns, school zoning policy, and curricular tracking. This has led to calls for new solutions to the problem of racial…

The purpose of this study was to examine how students used the elements of a historical argument to interpret how equality and opportunity affected marginalized groups in a given historical era. To do this, 150 eighth grade students wrote thirteen historical arguments, and submitted a written portfolio of their work at the end of the school year.…

This paper discusses Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects" and "A Vindication of the Rights of Men" as books of philosophy about rational materialism. Based on an analysis of Lockean thought, as applied to the possibility of women's development of reason,…

Children's books about the Thanksgiving holiday offer a superlative example of America's supposedly innocent interactions with "Indians." In this essay, we describe how representations of "Indians" in children's Thanksgiving books are often used to promote a Manifest Destiny ideology, we correct basic "facts" about…

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist who for three decades has won office as an Independent, has put "socialism" back in American political discourse. Sanders's campaign in the 2016 Democratic Party primaries reminds educators that there is a socialist tradition in American politics and society. This article discusses…

Black teachers in Canada, Kenya, and the United States share how they have supported minoritized students, even as they themselves experienced marginalizing societal forces, and delineate three guiding principles for affirming the social-emotional and mental health needs of all learners.

First graders engaged in an extended historical inquiry. Close readings of secondary and primary sources evoked rich class discussion. Scaffolding directed students' scrutiny of secondary sources for historical gaps; they ably detected source and intent within the primary sources. Students articulated newly constructed understandings through…

Wielding degrees of influence within educational organizations, university leaders are critical in determining how institutions enact their espoused missions and support severely marginalized campus communities. How do universities address and improve educational outcomes for the most severely underrepresented communities? This article presents…

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, every aspect of daily life is being altered in response to the virus. The pandemic has altered secondary education. Classes online, teachers struggling to learn Zoom and make lessons meaningful and relevant to students. Students struggling to make sense of this moment, struggling with mental health issues due to…

Racist rhetoric blaming the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAAPI) community for the COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated a surge of violence against the AAAPI community in the United States, including the Atlanta mass shooting on March 16, 2021. These incidents resurfaced the ongoing racism against AAAPIs that has largely been…