23 Myths About the History of American Schools

Sherman Dorn is a professor of education at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University.David Gamson is a professor of education in the Department of Education Policy Studies at The Pennsylvania State University.

“Each chapter is carefully researched, providing the reader with novel facts useful to rebut the half-truths so often thrown around in education circles.”—AASA School Administrator

• ContentsAcknowledgments  vIntroduction: Of Education Myths and History  1David A. Gamson and Sherman DornPart I: Origin Myths1.  The Myth of the Little Red Schoolhouse  11Jonathan Zimmerman2.  The Myth of a Purely Religious Motive for Harvard's Establishment  20A. J. Angulo3.  The Myth of Summer Vacation and the Agrarian Calendar  30Kenneth Gold4.  The Myth of Local Control  42Campbell F. Scribner5.  The Myth of Industrial-Era Classrooms  50Sherman DornPart II: MYTHS OF PROGRESS AND DECLINE6.  The Myth of Declining Student Behavior  61Judith Kafka7.  The Myth of Faulty City Schools  73John L. Rury8.  The Myth of American School Decline  81David A. Gamson9.  The Myth That U.S. Schools Were Desegregated in 1954  90Hope C. Rias10.  Reframing the Myth of School Reform Failure: Clocking School Change  98Larry CubanPart III: MYTHS ABOUT TEACHERS11.  The Myth That Good Teachers Are Born, Not Made  109Kate Rousmaniere12.  The Myth of Heroic Teachers in Special Education  118Neil Dhingra, Joel Miller, and Kristen Chmielewski13.  The Myth That Elementary Writing Instruction Is Recent  127Joan M. Taylor14.  The Myth That Schoolteachers Take the Summer Off  140Christine A. Ogren15.  The Myth of Harmful Teacher Tenure  149Diana D'Amico PawlewiczPart IV: MYTHS ABOUT INEVITABILITY16.  The Du Bois–Washington Myth of Black Male Educational Thinkers  161Dellyssa Edinboro17.  The Myth of Gender Dominance in Higher Education  169Linda Eisenmann18.  The Myth of the Asian American Model Minority, American Individualism, and Meritocracy  178Sharon S. Lee and Yoon K. PakPart V: MYTH-ING VOICES AND QUESTIONS19.  The Myth of De Facto Segregation  191Ansley T. Erickson and Andrew R. Highsmith20.  The Myth That Technology Will Modernize Teaching  204Victoria Cain21.  The Myth That School Spending Doesn't Affect Student Outcomes  213Matthew Gardner Kelly22.  The Myth That Preschool Education Is a Panacea  223Barbara Beatty23.  The Myth of Patriotic Education as a Unifying Force  232Cody Dodge EwertAbout the Editors and the Contributors  239Index  243