I just finished watching a documentary on the early years of our nation’s education history for my Schools and Society class. Mostly what struck me about the film was how relevant the issues our education system faced early on are to the issues it faces now. The underlying themes of what needs to be addressed seem to be eternal, though the surface specifics change. I read a little bit about that when studying John Goodlad, who ran the biggest educational study of our time in the early 80’s. There are two main texts that resulted from the study. The first was “A Nation at Risk,” which was published by the National Commission for Excellence in Education, and treated the surface specifics. A Place Called School was the book Goodlad published, which is said to be a book that is in it for the “long haul.” (I’m waiting for it to come in the mail).
On a light note, here is a segment from a McGuffey Reader (a book to teach Western kids reading and morals) the movie highlighted:
Charlie and Rob
“Don’t you hate splitting wood?” asked Charlie.
“No I rather like it,” said Rob, “it’s a tough job and it’s nice to conquer it.”
Now which of these boys do you think will grow up to be a rich and useful man? And which of them joined a party of tramps before he was 30 years old?
Contents page from the McGuffey 2nd Reader:
Contents from the McGuffey 3rd Reader:
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