I found this old book in the university library, The Transformation of the School, by Lawrence A. Cremin. It’s a historical account of the progressive movement in American education (1867-1957). The book was written in 1961. The cover is loose, and it hasn’t been checked out since 1995, but it seems as good a place as any for me to begin reading up on the history of education reform. I’ve been thinking that a historical perspective might help me better understand the modern-day politics of schooling.

Coincidentally, Chris Lehman is also thinking about this. He has a reading list, as well. I completely agree with him when he says:

Let’s put our ideas in context. Let’s look backward as we look ahead. Let’s take the time to step back and, in the words of Robert Pirsig, ask ourselves not, “What’s new?” but instead ask ourselves, “What’s good?”

I’m only about a third of the way through my book, but my strongest impression so far is that education reform must surely be a mobius strip topic, since so many discussions about schools seem not to be oriented toward any concrete reference point. Note: “The future” is not a concrete reference point.

We can trace the relationship between education and social engineering back to Horace Mann’s idea of the Common School as an instrument for creating social good. And from there we inherit the struggle over Chris’ (and Pirsig’s) big question, “What is good?” Everyone has a stake in this discussion, which is why it’s important to know what it’s all about, and why.

I’m going to be off-blog/offline for a few days. Got some reading to do…