Includes bibliographical references (pages 529-531) and index
Introduction -- The educational ladder -- A fork in the road -- The age of the experts -- IQ testing : "this brutal pessimism" -- Instead of the academic curriculum -- On the social frontier -- The public schools respond -- Dissidents and critics -- The great meltdown -- The sixties -- In search of standards -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Select bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index
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"Left Back recounts grandiose efforts by education reformers to use the schools to promote social and political goals, even when they diminished the schools' ability to educate children. It shows how generations of reformers have engaged in social engineering, advocating such innovations as industrial education, intelligence testing, curricular differentiation, and life-adjustment education. These reformers, she demonstrates, simultaneously mounted vigorous campaigns against academic studies." "In describing the wars between competing traditions of education, Ravitch points the way to reviving American education. She argues that all students have the capacity to learn and that all are equally deserving of a solid liberal arts education. Left Back addresses issues of the utmost importance and urgency. It is a large work of history that by recovering the past illuminates a future."--Jacket
Left back.
Left back.
Education-- United States-- History-- 20th century
Educational change-- United States-- History-- 20th century
Public schools-- United States-- History-- 20th century