Historians of the west Richard White, Patricia Limerick, and Quintard Taylor have transformed historical research with this view in mind. An investigation into the history of American education also requires that we view our society "through its complex, varied, paradoxical history rather than as a collage of stereotypes," for our nation has been the home of "Indian, Hispanics, Asians, blacks, and Anglos . . . who share the same region and its history, but wait to be introduced." Quote by Patricia Limerick in Quintard Taylor's In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 1528-1990 (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998, 315).
How might our understandings of the past lend for a more critical and complex view if we presupposed that our (pre)existence rested on the interplay and influences of multicultural relationships? By that, I am not suggesting that we offer a sanitized depiction of our histories, but rather, gaining a multicultural understanding necessarily embedded in power and racial inequalities. In my research and teaching endeavors, I investigate how the educational system in the United States affected, and were affected by, groups of people who have historically been defined as "other." In doing so, I examine the place of democracy and citizenship in the lives of students -- insofar as these principles offered the promise and possibilities of increasing democratic relations in undemocratic situations.
This web page, as a continuous work-in-progress, is designed to provide you with ways to think about how our educational histories played out in the lives of students. My aim is to bring history "alive" through the inclusion of primary sources, oral history testimonies, and links to relevant web sites. I hope to contribute in some small way to enliven dialogue and debate on what it means to be an "American."
"A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. The extension in space of the number of individuals who participate in an interest so that each has to refer to his own action to that of others, and to consider the action of others to give point and direction to his own, is equivalent to the breaking down of those barriers of class, race, and national territory which kept men from perceiving the full import of their activity." (John Dewey, Democracy and Education, 87)
"The history of American education abounds with themes that represent the inextricable ties between citizenship in a democratic society and popular education. It is crucial for an understanding of American educational history, however, to recognize that within American democracy there have been classes of oppressed people and that there have been essential relationships between popular education and the politics of oppression. Both schooling for democratic citizenship and schooling for second-class citizenship have been basic traditions in American education. These opposing traditions were not, as some would explain, the difference between the mainstream of American education and some aberrations or isolated alternatives. Rather, both were fundamental American conceptions of society and progress, occupied the same time and space, were fostered by the same governments, and usually were embraced by the same leaders." (James D. Anderson, Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935,1).
"Any program designed to attack the real problems of living must help to prepare the individual for successful living in a democracy such as ours. He must learn how to work with others for the common good. The school, serving all the children of all the people, has a unique opportunity for overcoming snobbery, reducing racial and class prejudices, and teaching the brotherhood of man. The individual must gain a consciousness of his civic responsibilities. Dewey reminds us of the fact that school is not only a preparation for life; it is life itself. It may be so organized as to afford the opportunity for the exercise of all the duties and obligations of citizenship." (From: Successful Living, a 1935 Seattle Public Schools publication on character education).
Getting to Know Me (just a tad) . . .
My professional identity Current curriculum vita Where I work: Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Where I'm from: University of Washington, Seattle
What helps me to keep on keepin' on My former students
My favorite places to escape (not that I have anything against Urbana-Champaign) Olympic National Park The San Juan Islands Mount Rainier Crater Lake The Redwoods Yosemite Joshua Tree Cabrillo Yellowstone The Grand Canyon
So what's the deal with National Parks anyways? History of the National Parks System
Some ponderings on technology
"What's wrong with technology is that it's not connected in any real way with matters of the spirit and of the heart."
"The way to solve the conflict between human values and technological needs is not to run away from technology. That's impossible. The way to resolve the conflict is to break down the barriers of dualistic thought that prevent a real understanding of what technology is -- not an exploitation of nature, but a fusion of nature and the human spirit into a new kind of creation that transcends both." (From Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values)
This web page project developed through the assistance of the 1999-2000 AT&T Technology Fellows Program. Last updated by Yoon Pak 03/9/2001