history of education | Society for US Intellectual History

The Critical, Conflicted, and Elitist Liberalism of Richard Hofstadter—And Why It Matters (Part 3)

It is in Hofstadter’s writings on education, and on John Dewey, that one sees the former’s elitism and anti-radical (critical) liberalism. I have not mastered Hofstadter’s entire corpus of work on K-12 education. But I have done some checking, and it appears most of his thought on that specific educational realm, and especially high schools (grades 9-12), is woven into Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. A large portion of that book’s section on education is dedicated to undermining the Progressive Education impulse. Hofstadter especially eviscerates what is known as “life adjustment” education. The last, to him, is the beating heart of Read more

Andrew Hartman

November 18, 2015

The Soul of America Goes to School

I was recently on a panel at the annual meeting of the History of Education Society on the topic of “The Culture Wars in History and Historiography.’ Chaired by James Read more

Tim Lacy

September 18, 2015

USIH at HES 2015

I want to draw your attention to some panels and papers of interest that will be appearing at the 2015 meeting online pharmacy order kamagra-polo online with best prices today Read more

Andrew Seal

September 7, 2015

Before the Redbook

In 1945, a Harvard committee issued the extraordinarily influential report General Education in a Free Society, also known as the Red Book (or, often, the Redbook, which shouldn’t be confused Read more

Tim Lacy

August 20, 2015

Thinking With And About The Birchers: A Blog Experiment

Earlier this year I read and reviewed D.J. Mulloy’s The World of the John Birch Society: Conspiracy, Conservatism, and the Cold War (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2014) for the American Read more

Andrew Hartman

July 29, 2015

The Historical Ironies of the Right-Wing Movement Against Common Core

The Common Core State Standards Initiative, a recent effort to standardize math and English curricula across the nation that is better known simply as “Common Core,” has generated a growing Read more

Tim Lacy

February 13, 2014

“Shimer or Nothing”: Chicago, the Great Books, and Shimer College in the 1970s

This excerpt from my book manuscript, meant for chapter six, was unfortunately cut during the last round of revisions. The piece is from an even longer section (also cut) where Read more