The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 1893-1958 | 
| Author: Herber Kliebard
Publisher: Routledge
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 493935
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.8
ISBN: 0415948916
Dewey Decimal Number: 370.1130973
EAN: 9780415948913
ASIN: 0415948916
Publication Date: July 29, 2004
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Product Description
Published in 1987, the first edition of The Struggle for the American Curriculum was a classic in curriculum studies and in the history of education. This new third edition is thoroughly revised and updated, and includes two new chapters on the renewed attacks on the subject curriculum in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as the way individual school subjects evolved over time and were affected by these attacks.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Fascinating and comprehensive look at the history of modern American education during its most formative time April 16, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a fascinating and comprehensive look at the history of modern American education during its most formative time...roughly the first half of the 20th century.
What is most striking to me is that the debates I see in schools and classrooms today were fought on a national scale during this time. This is an important book for anyone who wants background on the relationship among philosophy, values, methods, content, educational practices, and institutions.
You can see the history of many of the fundamental elements of modern American concepts of schools (grades, subjects, testing). Looking at this history and seeing the causes, people, decisions, and debates--how our assumptions are a construct--can expand a reader's concept about what is currently possible. For example, viable models of education based on child development that are now echoed by contemporary calls for more learner-centered pedagogy were steamrolled with factory models based on calls for "efficiency." It's grist for expanding your thinking about what is possible today in education...at least is was for me.
It's a good read as well...you'll be writing in the margins and underlining passages, even if you don't have a paper due.
Essential Reading July 20, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Kliebard's "Struggle", now in its third edition, is considered by most to be one of THE most important books about the history of American education. Starting in the early 1890's with the Committee of Ten, Kliebard gives the reader a coherent version of a rather complex story, the story of how four factions have competed to build American schools in their own image. Interestingly, Kliebard shows how each faction was able to have profound influnece on public education and how we think about education in general.
Those who believe that schools should be a place where young people are intellectually engaged in worthwhile learning for the ultimate purpose of developing active democratic citizens may walk away from the book a little depressed since Kliebard does seem to indicate that the factions who believe schools are meant to 1) prepare young people for jobs 2)secure American hegemony in the global marketplace, or 3)indoctrinate students to be obediant patriots who conform blindly to whatever adults tell them are the ones who in the end have had the most influence on what our children are actually doing (or not doing) in public schools. Kliebard's quote of Joel Spring in the Afterword rings true for democratic educators who have dedicated their lives to improving education for the common good. Spring contends that the "social efficiency" faction has left such a deep impression on American education that any efforts at reform are hopeless because there are certain organizational features of our schools which we take for granted as normative inhibit freedom and individuality and demand social adaptation.
At any rate, this book is great for anyone who wants to learn more about the deep history of why our schools look the way they do and who is patient enough to read through an intelligent and scholarly work.
 Bias holds the score down for this book July 10, 2006
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book by Kliebard is a classic in the world of college textbooks about American educational history and curriculum. However, if I might be so bold to say so, it is not a classic due to its own strength but rather to the paucity of books that cover this topic.
I have no problem with Kliebard's choice of years to write about (1893-1958) since they are the years when debate over what should be the proper curriculum in America's schools was at its most fierce, beginning with the Committee of Ten report in the 1890s, he documents several movements and ends with the federal government assuming more control over education right after the Sputnik incident caused the American government to doubt the quality of teaching science and math students were receiving.
Kliebard is a professor of education. This shows when he tells this story to his readers. Although he knows his material backwards and forwards, he clearly is an apologist for John Dewey and he has little tolerance for any other education movement. He openly mocks many of them as tools for social control by the ruling class. Other times he pulls out sexist and racist quotes that are intended to excite the reader into disliking educational movements. While it is a dependable (but cheap) tactic to score a few points in a debate, it is a very poor way to write history. It also distorts the true study of some of these movements.
Any history student can tell you that America in the late 1800s and early 1900s was a racist and sexist place. It serves no purpose to drag those facts into the discussions of the policy debates of the time. Rather, it clouds the issue behind the offending words and phrases. This book was the source of much discussion in my graduate level class I am taking and many of the students would become upset with the words and phrases of certain educational movements and then utterly dismiss their main ideas. Thus, the true study of the philosophies of curriculum becomes obscured in the name of partisanship.
The only exception to these tactics is John Dewey. Kliebard admits in one of his prefaces (he has included each preface from each of his 3 editions of his book in this edition) that he is a big fan of Dewey. Unfortunately, Kliebard does not make it entirely clear why. He talks about Dewey's University School and some of the innovations in rather vague terms. Many other times in the book he points out that Dewey is incorrectly interpeted by other movements who claim Dewey as one of their own, but he does little to explain why this well-written, widely-published educational philosopher could not clearly lay out a plan that would not be misinterpreted by so many. Mr. Kliebard, if Dewey was so great why couldn't he more clearly express himself, especially when it came to curriculum for the secondary level?
So, this book gets a grade of C. He loses points for being biased in his reporting of history. He gets extra credit for being one of the few to document this facet of American history in a fairly reader-friendly format.
Good Book May 8, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Keliebard's book introduces the readers to the long history of American education. Essentially, education was something the wealthy used to keep their places in life, but eventually as education became more widespread, it became problematic and the fight for the American Curriculum began to take shape.
With its many twist and turns, the reader is given a glimpse into why education is the way it is, and the many voices and philosophies that helped shape it into its current hegemonic institution. The movement that has left the widest and most permanent imprint on education is that of social efficiency, rooted in the concepts of the Industrial Revolution - get them in and get them out. Sadly, that is the way things truly are.
The battle goes on. Recommended for anyone questioning the underlying beliefs of our current educational system.
An Interesting, but Hard Text June 9, 2004
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
The Struggle for the American Curriculum is a historical exploration of the changes that occurred in American education. It deals with reforms and the philosophies with gave curriculum its shape. In this book, Herbert M. Kliebard seeks to present a fair and balanced recount of the people and events, who and which fashioned the course of education during first fifty or so years of the twentieth century. In many ways, it is Kliebard's "search for progressive education."The Struggle for the American Curriculum is a historical overview of pretty much the first fifty years of curriculum formation and philosophy in the 1900s. There are two aspects worth highlighting about this book. One is its comprehensive historical account of the development of curriculum theory and the other is Kliebard's special attention to "progressive education." The historical overview is very comprehensive as mentioned before. Every major "player" of curriculum and education theory is explored and discussed. For instance, John Dewey is significantly and appropriately studied. His curriculum and its impact is given its full due. Not only is Dewey examined, but also Eliot, the Committee of Ten, and so forth. This book also shows how different movements and reforms, such as social Meliorism and vocationalism, took shape, reached their peaks, and eventually took its place in the educational curricular mosaic. Yet, most interesting is Kliebard's last chapter on "progressive education." This seems to be his own interpretation in the curriculum debate. The author cites Cremin in defining "progressive education." It is expanding schooling to health and occupational competence, the application of scientific research for teaching purposes, and customizing instruction for the different types of students. Yet, this is only a definition. Kliebard is interested in "cleaning up" what progressive education is. He is keenly aware of the struggle for each philosophy and theory to become the definition. It is the subject of his book and the struggle which continues today. Overall, Kliebard's book is a very tedious work that is very hard to get into. The way he portrays the evolution of curricular thought is very detailed and hard to follow for a beginning student of curriculum design. Kliebard does not make good use of primary sources. One may wish that he provided more samples of the original work of figures such as Dewey. There are no tables, charts, or diagrams to help comprehend the various views and movements. In this way, the book is somewhat hard to follow. This is the overall weakness. Yet, Kliebard does a fine job in presenting all the views, movements, and people who impacted curriculum design. His attention to detail is admirable and helps a beginner become acquainted with the humanists, child-study people, the social efficiency educators, and social meliorists. Indeed, this book is very helpful in this fashion. Once can also appreciate Kliebard's fair treatment of all the views and influential figures of curriculum. In fact, it is not apparent which side he takes. He raises the strengths and weaknesses of each viewpoint in an equal manner. Therefore, he depicts the "struggle" for the American curriculum in a very succinct fashion. Kliebard does an admirable job in representing the facts in a straightforward and seemingly unbiased manner.
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