23 Myths About the History of American Schools
What the Truth Can Tell Us, and Why It Matters

Sherman Dorn (Edited by), David A. Gamson (Edited by)

9780807769270

Hardback, published 26 April 2024

256 pages
23.5 x 16.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.272 kg

In this fascinating collection, some of the foremost historians of education—including Barbara Beatty, Larry Cuban, Linda Eisenmann, Yoon Pak, John Rury, and Jonathan Zimmerman—debunk commonly held myths about American schooling. Each short, readable chapter focuses on one myth, explaining what the real history is and how it helped shape education today. Contributors take on a host of tall tales, including the supposed agrarian origins of summer vacation; exaggerated stories of declining student behavior and academic performance; persistent claims that some people are born to be teachers; idealistic notions that the 1954 Brown decision ended segregation in American schools; misleading beliefs that classrooms operate in ways designed to fit the industrial era; and more. 23 Myths About the History of American Schools will awaken the inner history nerd of everyone who ever asked, "How did we get this crazy school system?" It will affirm the truth that its readers are as entitled to think critically about schooling as anyone else.

• Contents
• Acknowledgments  
  v
• Introduction: Of Education Myths and History  
  1
  David A. Gamson and Sherman Dorn
• Part I: Origin Myths
• 1.  
  The Myth of the Little Red Schoolhouse  
  11
  Jonathan Zimmerman
• 2.  
  The Myth of a Purely Religious Motive for Harvard'
  s Establishment  
  20
  A. J. Angulo
• 3.  
  The Myth of Summer Vacation and the Agrarian Calendar  
  30
  Kenneth Gold
• 4.  
  The Myth of Local Control  
  42
  Campbell F. Scribner
• 5.  
  The Myth of Industrial-Era Classrooms  
  50
  Sherman Dorn
• Part II: MYTHS OF PROGRESS AND DECLINE
• 6.  
  The Myth of Declining Student Behavior  
  61
  Judith Kafka
• 7.  
  The Myth of Faulty City Schools  
  73
  John L. Rury
• 8.  
  The Myth of American School Decline  
  81
  David A. Gamson
• 9.  
  The Myth That U.S. Schools Were Desegregated in 1954  
  90
  Hope C. Rias
• 10.  
  Reframing the Myth of School Reform Failure: Clocking School Change  
  98
  Larry Cuban
• Part III: MYTHS ABOUT TEACHERS
• 11.  
  The Myth That Good Teachers Are Born, Not Made  
  109
  Kate Rousmaniere
• 12.  
  The Myth of Heroic Teachers in Special Education  
  118
  Neil Dhingra, Joel Miller, and Kristen Chmielewski
• 13.  
  The Myth That Elementary Writing Instruction Is Recent  
  127
  Joan M. Taylor
• 14.  
  The Myth That Schoolteachers Take the Summer Off  
  140
  Christine A. Ogren
• 15.  
  The Myth of Harmful Teacher Tenure  
  149
  Diana D'
  Amico Pawlewicz
• Part IV: MYTHS ABOUT INEVITABILITY
• 16.  
  The Du Bois–
  Washington Myth of Black Male Educational Thinkers  
  161
  Dellyssa Edinboro
• 17.  
  The Myth of Gender Dominance in Higher Education  
  169
  Linda Eisenmann
• 18.  
  The Myth of the Asian American Model Minority, American Individualism, and Meritocracy  
  178
  Sharon S. Lee and Yoon K. Pak
• Part V: MYTH-ING VOICES AND QUESTIONS
• 19.  
  The Myth of De Facto Segregation  
  191
  Ansley T. Erickson and Andrew R. Highsmith
• 20.  
  The Myth That Technology Will Modernize Teaching  
  204
  Victoria Cain
• 21.  
  The Myth That School Spending Doesn'
  t Affect Student Outcomes  
  213
  Matthew Gardner Kelly
• 22.  
  The Myth That Preschool Education Is a Panacea  
  223
  Barbara Beatty
• 23.  
  The Myth of Patriotic Education as a Unifying Force  
  232
  Cody Dodge Ewert
• About the Editors and the Contributors  
  239
• Index  
  243