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"As policymakers continue to debate how to improve American education, they have had few historical studies to guide their deliberations. David Angus and Jeffrey Mirel have now produced a superb investigation of the conflicts over the twentieth-century high school curriculum which analyzes the debates at the time as well as the actual courses students took. Anyone working on high school reforms today will find their volume compelling and very helpful."
–Maris Vinovskis, Michigan University
"Angus and Mirel have made a significant contribution to the history of American education. Their work also holds great importance for current debates about national curricular policy. Simply put, the question of what and how youth should learn cannot be addressed without considering this book."
–John Rury, DePaul University
This provocative new study of the American high school not only examines the historical debates about curriculum policy but 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. This shift had disastrous consequences because it encouraged educators to water down courses and push many students into low-level tracks and programs. 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.
David Angus is Professor of Educational History and Policy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Jeffrey Mirel is Professor of Educational Studies and Director of the Division of Educational Studies at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
