Designed to Fail: A History of Education in the United States

by Ira David Socol, Scott McLeod (foreword)

When our children go through their school day, they are living in a system purposely designed in the 19th and early 20th centuries to fail the vast majority of students. Driving 80 percent of children out of school before ninth grade was the intention, and the students targeted for failure were Black, Catholic, Jewish, disabled, neurodiverse, and anyone who wasn’t from the political and economic elite.

We rarely discuss the intentions of the men who designed the way schools are, but those intentions have created our school buildings, schedules, grading systems, the division of learners by age, the division of subjects, and behavioral expectations.

Designed to A History of Education in the United States is an accessible path to understanding the power dynamics preserving a system providing one kind of education to the children of wealth and another to the rest. Based on Ph.D. research and built with 28 years experience in diverse schools across states, it tells the story of the constant battle between education as opportunity and education as social reproduction.



“I have known Ira Socol for many years and have long appreciated his keen intellect, deep knowledge of education history and policy, and most of all, his unwavering passion to make schooling work for all children. In "Designed to Fail," Socol offers a thoughtful yet unvarnished look at how the American education system came to be and why it continues to fall short for so many students. With righteous anger tempered by scholarly insight, he traces the troubling origins of many educational practices we take for granted, exposing how they were intentionally designed to limit opportunities for marginalized groups. What sets this book apart, however, is that Socol does not merely critique - he also charts a path forward. Drawing on his vast experience as an educator and reformer, he provides concrete ways that schools can be redesigned to truly serve all learners. While acknowledging the magnitude of change required, Socol's vision is ultimately one of hope. He understands the transformative power of education when done right, and this book is a powerful call to create schools worthy of our children. This book is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of education in America.”— Punya Mishra, Associate Dean of Scholarship & Innovation in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University

“Ira Socol's book is a call to all educational leaders, policymakers, and practitioners to engage in the critical, and often overlooked, task of asking ‘why’ our educational system operates the way it does. It is through understanding the ‘why’—the historical, socio-political, and economic rationales behind our schooling practices—that we can truly begin to envision and enact the change we can't yet even imagine. By examining the roots of our educational beliefs and practices, Socol not only exposes the systemic challenges we face but also inspires us with the resilience and dedication of those working within these constraints. This book is an essential read for anyone seeking to make [schools] more equitable, inclusive, and effective for all learners..”—Melissa Emler, Chief Learning Officer, Modern Learners

“Socol is unapologetic in the fight to build schools for kids, not adults. He pulls back the sheets on several long-held “best practices,” which, if you know Socol, he would probably call “worst practices.” Socol takes an honest look at our traditional education system and identifies the root cause of several systemic harms imposed on our children. He is not satisfied with tradition as an excuse for stagnation or oppression.

Kindle Edition

Published November 7, 2024

Reviews

[David Britten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ira David Socol’s Designed to Fail: A History of Education in the United States (2024) is a bold and necessary examination of the deeply entrenched structures that have shaped American schooling. Rather than treating the failures of public education as accidental or the result of bureaucratic inefficiency, Ira argues convincingly that many of these systems—standardized testing, rigid schedules, age-based progression, and compliance-driven classrooms—were intentionally designed to control and marginalize certain populations. His historical analysis exposes how schools have long been used as tools of assimilation, stratification and competition, reinforcing societal, economic, and religious-based hierarchies rather than fostering genuine learning for all students.

What sets Designed to Fail apart is Ira’s ability to connect historical injustices with present-day educational struggles. He does not mince words when it comes to exposing the roles of Elwood Cubberly, Lewis Terman, Horace Mann, Henry Bernard, and non-educators like Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Jefferson (there are many more). Ira doesn’t just critique the system; he offers concrete pathways for reimagining learning beyond the factory-model constraints that still dominate today. As someone who has worked within the system and seen both the promise and the limitations of reform, much of which was demonstrated by Ira along with his education partner and co-author Pamela Moran, former Superintendent of Virginia’s Albemarle County Public Schools, (Timeless Learning: How Imagination, Observation, and Zero-Based Thinking Changes Schools, 2018), I found Designed to Fail to be a powerful validation of the need for systemic transformation. It challenges educators, policymakers, and communities to rethink what education should be—beyond compliance and toward real, meaningful learning experiences.

This book belongs in the hands of everyone who wants to shed the past shortcomings of school reform and instead truly transform teacher-student-school learning and relationships.