An analysis of the social changes and political debates that shaped 19th-century American high schools. It reveals what students studied and how they behaved, what teachers expected of them and how they taught, and how boys and girls, whites and blacks, experienced high school.

This provocative new study of the American high school examines the historical debates about curriculum policy and also traces changes in the institution itself, as evidenced by what students actually studied. Contrary to conventional accounts, the authors argue that beginning in the 1930s, American high schools shifted from institutions primarily concerned with academic and vocational education to institutions mainly focused on custodial care of adolescents. Claiming that these changes reflected educators' racial, class, and gender biases, the authors offer original suggestions for policy adjustments that may lead to greater educational equality for our ever-growing and ever more diverse population of students.

The growth of the American high school that occurred in the twentieth century is among the most remarkable educational, social, and cultural phenomena of the twentieth century. The history of education, however, has often reduced the institution to its educational function alone, thus missing its significantly broader importance. As a corrective, this collection of essays serves four ends: as an introduction to the history of the high school; as a reevaluation of the power of narratives that privilege the perspective of school leaders and the curriculum; as a glimpse into the worlds created by students and their communities; and, most critically, as a means of sparking conversations about where we might look next for stories worth telling.

Presents a collection of lessons and activities for teaching American history for students in middle school and high school.

U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.

Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles -- the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality -- were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.

From grassroots campaigns and activism to top-down initiatives for and against curricular reform, this open access book investigates the movement to integrate LGBTQ+ history into high school history courses in the USA. Stacie Brensilver Berman charts the development of the movement from the founding of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the passing of the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act in California, to the resurgence of conservative thought after the 2016 election. Based on 13 interviews with high school teachers about integrating LGBTQ+ history in their classes, the author reveals the challenges inherent to K-12 curricular reform amid the reluctance of a conservative nation and many of its school systems to consider an alternative vision. The book offers the first detailed portrait of a prophetic minority of educators and activists championing a more inclusive and accurate vision of American history. The book includes a Foreword written by Blanche Wiesen Cook, Distinguished Professor of History and Women's Studies at the City University of New York, USA, and Robert Cohen, Professor of Social Studies, Education, at New York University, USA. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

Argues that as public schools became integral to the maintenance of American lifestyles, they increasingly reflected the primary tensions between democratic rhetoric and the reality of a class-divided system.