Democracy's Schools

The Rise of Public Education in America (How Things Worked)

By: Johann N. Neem

Narrated by: Marlin May

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

The unknown history of American public education.

At a time when Americans are debating the future of public education, Johann N. Neem tells the inspiring story of how and why Americans built a robust public school system in the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War. It’s a story in which ordinary people in towns across the country worked together to form districts and build schoolhouses and reformers sought to expand tax support and give every child a liberal education. By the time of the Civil War, most northern states had made common schools free, and many southern states were heading in the same direction.

Yet back then, like today, Americans disagreed over the kind of education needed, who should pay for it, and how schools should be governed. Neem explores the history and meaning of these disagreements. Neem takes us into the classrooms of yore so that we may experience public schools from the perspective of the people whose daily lives were most affected by them.

Ultimately, Neem concludes, public schools encouraged a diverse people to see themselves as one nation. By studying the origins of America’s public schools, Neem urges us to focus on the defining features of democratic education: promoting equality, nurturing human beings, preparing citizens, and fostering civic solidarity.

The book is published by Johns Hopkins University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2017 Johns Hopkins University Press (P)2023 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"A compelling account...reminds us that public schools can liberate children’s minds from prejudice or vocational preoccupations." (LA Review of Books)

"A well-written, provocative, and cohesive narrative accessible to a lay and scholarly audiences." (History of Education Quarterly)

"A valuable book, and its history of American schools is also a fascinating history of America itself." (The University Bookman)