The Tragedy of American School Reform How Curriculum Politics and Entrenched Dilemmas Have Diverted Us from Democracy

by Evans, Ronald W.

• ISBN13: 9780230107984
• ISBN10: 0230107982
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book tells the story of the origins of the reform in science and math education, its broadening to social studies, the projects and materials created, the critiques and dilemmas that emerged, resistance reflecting the politics of schooling, and the many difficulties experienced by the reformers as they encountered entrenched patterns of schooling resistant to an inquiry mode of teaching. The book is drawn, in part, on new research from previously untapped archival sources. It offers an in-depth analysis of not only the historical questions involved in understanding this period of reform, but also provides a penetrating analysis of the central dilemma of the social studies field, the "grammar" of social studies, the broad and deeply engrained patterns of school practice which stand as an obstacle to meaningful social learning in schools. The aim of this work is to contribute to our understanding of a major effort to reform school curricula, to better understand its dilemmas and possibilities, and to provide a stimulus to thoughtful consideration of current and future reforms.

Author Biography

Ronald W. Evans is a Professor of Teacher Education at San Diego State University. He is the author of The Social Studies Wars: What Should We Teach the Children? (2004) and This Happened in America: Harold Rugg and the Censure of Social Studies (2007). He also served as first editor of the Handbook on Teaching Social lssues (1996).

Table of Contents

Challenges of Curriculum Development * The New Social Studies * The Newer Social Studies * Larger Trends in Schools * Aftermath: "We Face a National Conspiracy * The MACOS Controversy and Beyond * The Conservative Restoration * Can We Transcend the Grammar of Social Studies? *   Reflections on Education for Democracy