Liv Nieves’s Reviews > Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life > Status Update

interesting to read criticisms about de-schooling movement at its inception since they’re kind of like “wonder where this is going” and today un-schooling/de-schooling is an active philosophy in homeschooling/alt schooling today. Their criticism that while de-schooling describes its project as progressive, it’s not tied to society, production, or any political praxis proved to be true in the 2020s!

This book has been challenging to read but an immensely satisfying history of education reform from the beginning of US public schooling to the 1960s. Current food for thought, “the contradictions of capitalism frequently surface as contradictions within the educational system.” What problems are public school reforms *actually* proposed to solve? Often it’s wage equity, and industry vocational demands.

It’s really weird that this book was written in 1978 and feels so relavant. There’s both great and terrible writing about education that excludes how the US education system works in and for the US economy. So far what I appreciate most about this book is that its analysis of equity in education outcomes include the context of a school system that exists WITH economic reforms/policy/history/and social relations.