EDUC 230 History of US Education

This course serves as an introduction to the historical study of education and schooling in the United States. Focusing especially on the history of curriculum, students will work with primary and secondary sources to understand the competing aims for education in the United States, the role(s) that politics plays in what is taught and learned in schools, and the cyclical nature of educational reform. Finally, the course works to contextualize the history of education with special attention to the ways schools have been used to oppress marginalized people, including those who work in them. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the complex and fraught history of teaching and learning in the U.S. as they wrestle with their own historical inquiries alongside course texts and themes.