HIS 3463 - History of American Education

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s): ENG 1010

Description: Who controls what children should learn, and how they should learn it? How are schools supposed to train students for the careers of the future while also preparing them to contribute to civic life? Is it the schools’ responsibility to promote patriotism? Students in this course explore these questions by examining American education from the colonial era to the present. We pay particular attention to the development of rural and urban schools; regional differences in education; the experiences of Native Americans, Black Americans, immigrants, girls and women, and the disabled; and competing philosophies and reform movements. Whether or not students plan to work in schools, they can take a close look at the most widely shared and misunderstood institutions in American public life.