The public education system has played a unique role in American history as perhaps the key institution for societal evolution. That system’s roots and impact are beyond most conventional tellings of that history. Click on the highlighted title to read the rest of the piece.

Five Themes of American Conventional Wisdom – Looking at the “Puritan Ethic” as the first of five themes that have influenced American development including the American education system

Five Themes of American Conventional Wisdom Part 2: Scientism & the Cult of Professionalism – How social-engineering has shaped the development of schooling in America

Five Themes of American Conventional Wisdom Part 3: Restrained Democratic Ideology – How education has replace the political process as the popular engine for societal change

Five Themes of American Conventional Wisdom Part 4: Capitalism – How capitalism as an ethical construct has shaped American society

Five Themes of American Conventional Wisdom Part 5: Nationalism – A look at the role American nationalism has played shaping the country’s approach to education

Napoleon, Prussia & the U.S. Education System – A look at how events in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century played a key role in the development of the U.S. education system

American Calvin – Looking at the principles of Calvinism that have had such an impact on American history and thought

The Myth of the Common School – A look at Horace Mann & the development of the U.S. public school system in the first half of the 19th century. Unlike what many people conventionally think, it was not about the “3 Rs”.

Horace Mann & Compulsory Schooling – Looking back at Horace Mann’s educational vision and how that vision contributed to school still being compulsory today.

Education & the Cult of Efficiency – A look at how the U.S. public education system transitioned from an academic to a business friendly focus in the early 20th century.

You May Have Missed the Corporate Takeover of Education – A business paradigm and corporate interests took control of U.S. public schools early in the 20th century.

The American Three-Tiered Education System – Thoughts on the theory that we have evolved a three-tiered education system – elite private schools, “good” public schools & “bad” public schools – for our youth that in many ways duplicates the system developed in Prussia in the first half of the 19th century.-

The Education-Industrial Complex – The array of large corporate interests that have latched on to public education as a market for their products and a vested interest in standardizing education to protect those markets.

The Human Pursuit of Learning in the Education-Industrial Complex – As a follow-up to the previous piece, a look at the impact of this corporate leviathan on the very personal human pursuit of knowledge… the individual vs the bureaucracy.

Compulsory Schooling – The Hammer of Educational Equality – Looking how compulsory one-size-fits-all schools may have become a bureaucratic tool to achieve equality, for better or worse.

Constructive Generational Conflict Between Boomers & Millennials – Applying the generational theory of Strauss & Howe to the current issues between Baby-Boomers and their Millennial kids