Schooled to Order: A Social History of Public Schooling in the United States

by David Nasaw

Argues that as public schools became integral to the maintenance of American lifestyles, they increasingly reflected the primary tensions between democratic rhetoric and the reality of a class-divided system

Genres: Education, History, Nonfiction, Teaching

302 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 1979

About the author

David Nasaw is an American author, biographer and historian who specializes in the cultural, social and business history of early 20th Century America. Nasaw is on the faculty of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he is the Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Professor of History.
In addition to writing numerous scholarly and popular books, he has written for publications such as the Columbia Journalism Review, American Historical Review, American Heritage, Dissent, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The London Review of Books, and Condé Nast Traveler.
Nasaw has appeared in several documentaries, including The American Experience, 1996, and two episodes of the History Channel's April 2006 miniseries 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America: "The Homestead Strike" and "The Assassination of President McKinley". He is cited extensively in the US and British media as an expert on the history of popular entertainment and the news media, and as a critic of American philanthropy.

Reviews

[Britta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Schooled to Order is a fascinating history of public schooling in the U.S. From an inclusive, twenty-first century perspective, it's a bit maddening to read at times as racism, classism, and sexism dominated the public school structure throughout the nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries. However, this history is important for educators to know and understand as we look to the future. I would have liked to hear more about the minority experience--yes, blacks and Native Americans were discriminated against and were largely left out of the public schooling system up into the twentieth century...and what of the Chinese and Japanese who came to America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? Yet, Nasaw brushes over much of the legislation and national and local decisions that affected these minority and immigrant groups, mostly focusing on the plight of European immigrants at the hands of public education. I also would like to see an updated version of this text. Nasaw published Schooled to Order in 1979, leaving a forty year gap in the education system waiting to be further analyzed and understood.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

YOU should read this one

[Jcs2319 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great historical review of the educational systems birth and maturation from a liberal point of view. Interesting to me in the capitalist and social context.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for SFCE 328W

[Library Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nasaw writes about U.S. education from 1835-1970. He maintains a critical tone as describes the development of primary schools (1835-1855), high schools (1895-1915) and schools of higher education
(1945-1970). He contends that during each of these periods the central goal of the developers was not to educate students but to socialize them to be well mannered, law abiding , religious and compliant when they joined the workforce. It was heartening to read that the disadvantaged were surprisingly savy about what was best for their children and resisted initiatives that were not to their benefit. This book was first published in the 70's. It could be used by education professors who teach Foundations courses.

[Lucinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is really great and made me hate most if not all institutions of education. i don't think that was his point... anyway,one day when i was working at the archives at the JFK Library i realized one of our researchers was David Nasaw. The David Nasaw. Then, in shock, i somehow overturned a cart after getting a wheel stuck in between the floor and the elevator. documents of National Security from the hollinger boxes littered the floor. i almost started to cry, and then David Nasaw came over in a very concerned way and helped me sort through the stuff and get me back in the elevator in tact. nicest guy ever. if you don't read his books, at least buy them.

[Patrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book can be pretty dry at times (despite the authors sarcastic wit), it is a pretty interesting examination of the development of public education in America. It does jump large chunks of history as it progresses through the levels of education and I believe its assessment of community colleges is no longer accurate as they have evolved to suit new needs in American socity. Otherwise it's pretty fascinating to see how the school system developed as it did and why.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readable, with powerful arguments. Nasaw's interest lies in the social drivers behind public school reform, so there are issues which get left out. That isn't a criticism; not only are those social motivations glossed over in most current debate, the existence of them (either historically or currently) isn't even on most people's radar.

[Jonathan Brammer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nasaw's social history of education focuses more on class and less on race - what you are left with is an incomplete picture, and the forces that restrict access to education for the working class are far less insidious than the slavemasters and segregationists.

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting, and hard to follow at times. Even so, the similarities between the three time periods were drawn out well. The second section was especially interesting.

[MilesTeller Shirtless · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really thorough, simply told history of public schools from a class perspective and is fairly critical of the progressives, imo