
08/07/2025
Why should you read this book? This book provides a historical analysis of the public school system in the United States. It traces its origins back to Europe in the early seventeenth century and how such a model promoted by influential historical figures such as German theologian Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon, was pushed for a more centralized system of education under the premise that centralizing the education system would empower the state to standardize what society should and shouldn’t learn. During that very same period, education in the United States was decentralized as the country itself was not yet a federation, but an assembly of autonomous and self-governed colonies.
The authors explain how compulsory schooling was brought to the United States, starting in New England governments, especially with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The authors argue that the centralization of the education system through compulsory schooling has produced sub-optimal outcomes over time such as high dropout and low graduation rates, thus impeding children from low-income background to be more competitive in the labor market than their private-school graduate counterparts. Click the link below to purchase your copy:
https://a.co/d/9q3U9RA