Was school reform in the decades following the Civil War an
upper-middle-class effort to maintain control of the schools? Was public
education simply a vehicle used by Protestant elites to impose their
cultural ideas upon recalcitrant immigrants? In The Politics of School
Reform, 1870-1940, Paul E. Peterson challenges such standard,
revisionist interpretations of American educational history. Urban
public schools, he argues, were part of a politically pluralistic
society. Their growth--both in political power and in sheer numbers--had
as much to do with the demands and influence of trade unions, immigrant
groups, and the public more generally as it did with the actions of
social and economic elites.
Drawing upon rarely examined archival data, Peterson demonstrates that
widespread public backing for the common school existed in Atlanta,
Chicago, and San Francisco. He finds little evidence of systematic
discrimination against white immigrants, at least with respect to
classroom crowding and teaching assignments. Instead, his research
uncovers solid trade union and other working-class support for
compulsory education, adequate school financing, and curricular
modernization.
Urban reformers campaigned assiduously for fiscally sound, politically
strong public schools. Often they had at least as much support from
trade unionists as from business elites. In fact it was the
business-backed machine politicians--from San Francisco's William
Buckley to Chicago's Edward Kelly--who deprived the schools of funds. At
a time when public schools are being subjected to searching criticism
and when new educational ideas are gaining political support, The
Politics of School Reform, 1870-1940 is a timely reminder of the
strength and breadth of those groups that have always supported "free"
public schools.
