EDLPS 549B: Education for Liberation
Winter 2009
Wednesdays 7:00-9:20
Professor: Dr. Joy Williamson-Lott
Office: 315E Miller Hall
Email: (this is the best way to reach me)
Phone: 685-7749
Course website:
Office hours: Tu/W by appointment
Purpose:
A primary purpose of this course is to trace and understand the location of education in the struggle for equal rights and liberation. We will examine how different groups (ethnic, gender, religious) have defined “liberation” and “proper education” over time and attempt to understand overlap and divergence in their conceptualizations. Also, we will endeavor to understand how these fights for educational access/quality/equality have influenced the nature of education for all American youth. In order to accomplish this task, we will examine shifts in what were considered progressive, conciliatory, radical, and proper forms of education (for example, the notion of desegregation in education has been considered both radical and conciliatory at different periods during history). Using the different communities as lenses, we will examine questions such as: How should we educate youth? To what end should youth be educated? Who should the educators be?
As you read the materials and participate in the discussion, keep these additional questions in mind:
- Are the author’s goals for society reasonable for the time in which those goals were put forth? And what is the social, economic, ideological, and political context to which the author is responding?
- What values and morals do the author appear to hold?
- What are the consequences—intentional or unintentional—that may result from the particular brand of education advanced?
- How does the author define “good education”? Do you agree?
Logistics:
The course uses primary sources and secondary sources. Primary sources (newspaper articles, speeches, autobiographies) allow the historical actors to speak for themselves and allow you, the reader, to draw your own conclusions about the material. Secondary sources (books and articles on a topic) help us identify the problems and opportunities in educational history as other writers have seen them. Both the primary and secondary sources offer competing perspectives on educational history and will complicate our understanding of what was “best” for various populations.
Each class will begin with a lecture on American history and educational history to provide a context for the readings. The second half will use whole group discussions, video, small group work, debates, etc., to engage the material. Therefore, your ideas, perspectives, and thoughts are very important to the class.
Readings:
There is one required book for this course as well as a course reader. The required book is: Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery (Norton Critical Edition) and is available at the University of Washington Bookstore. The course reader is available on the course website.
If you are unfamiliar with a general history of the United States and the histories of particular ethnic groups, Ronald Takaki’s, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, is strongly recommended.
Evaluation:
Your final grade will consist of the following:
1Preliminary paper topic and bibliography (due February 4; not graded)
2Midterm assignment (due February 25; 20% of credit)
3Three response papers (due throughout quarter; not graded; 30% of credit)
4Final paper (March 16; 50% of credit)
If you are absent, you are required to write an extra response paper for that day’s readings.
All of your assignments should be submitted via the course website. See below for specific directions on how to do so.
1Preliminary paper topic and bibliography: The final project for this course is a 12-15 page paper. Throughout the quarter you will have assignments to help move the paper along. First, you are required to submit a preliminary topic idea and bibliography, which will include a paragraph description of your idea and a list of at least three possible sources. We will meet individually to discuss your idea(s) so that we can work together to find a manageable topic and possible sources. This is not an evaluative exercise but an opportunity for us to talk about your interests. Submit it in the folder marked “topic ideas” on the course website. Your document should be titled with your name and assignment type. For example, mine would read “Williamson-Lott topic idea.”
2Midterm assignment option 1: Paper proposal: You are required to write a more thorough paper proposal that has evolved out of your preliminary topic idea. By this point you should have selected a particular topic and conducted preliminary research. The proposal must include the following four components: 1) a discussion of your objectives, 2) a preliminary outline of the perspectives you will employ to advance your argument, 2) a brief description of the sources you will use, 4) a discussion of the educational significance of your topic. Your final paper may take a different route than your proposal, but this gives you a chance to see how you will tease out your argument. Be sure to include a title and a bibliography. This assignment should be no more than four double-spaced pages. Submit it in the folder marked “midterm assignment” on the course website. My document would be titled “Williamson-Lott midterm assignment.”
Midterm assignment option 2: Book review: You will choose a scholarly book that pertains to your particular topic and write a review that includesa detailed summary of the book including its essential themes, an explanation of how it fits with at least TWO books on the same topic (which means you will need to do other readings), and a discussion of its strengths and weaknesses. It might be helpful to read some of the book reviews included in the History of Education Quarterly ( While evaluating the book think about the questions listed above in the course description.A good review should leave the reader with a succinct idea of the book’s topic/themes and a convincing and scholarlystatement of your own views of it. This assignment should be no more than four double-spaced pages. Submit it in the folder marked “midterm assignment” on the course website. My document would be titled “Williamson-Lott midterm assignment.”
Midterm assignment option 3: Analysis of a primary source: You are not required to use primary sources in your final project, but those of you who will be using sources like autobiographies, court cases, and legislative acts in your final project may want to entertain this option. You are to choose one (or two closely related) primary source document(s) and provide an analysis of the document(s). Such analysis would include: a) placing the document in the appropriate historical context both within education and the larger society; b) describing the event or issue which was the catalyst for the document; c) discussing the actual text of the document; d) discussing the salient characteristics of the author(s) and what biases may be reflected in the document; and e) evaluating the significance of the document for the era in which it was produced. You are required to use at least two other sources to help make sense of your primary source. This assignment should be no more than four double-spaced pages. Submit it in the folder marked “midterm assignment” on the course website. My document would be titled “Williamson-Lott midterm assignment.”
3Response papers: Each student will write three2-3 page responses to the readings during the quarter. You may write your responses at any time during the quarter but must submit a total of three on three separate days. These will not be graded, but you should take the assignment seriously since they are what we will use to inform our class discussions. Your responses may reflect what you learned (or did not learn) from a particular source, what you found interesting and convincing (or the opposite), or how it extended (or failed to extend) your knowledge and understanding of significant issues in educational history. The hope is that you will demonstrate that you have read thoughtfully and considered seriously the merits of the ideas, perspectives, information, and proposals you have read. Try to avoid the detailed recounting of the readings as well as the simple assertion of opinions. Submit them via the course website BEFOREclass on the day we will discuss that particular topic. There are three separate folders for your response papers. Submit them accordingly. Mine would be titled Williamson-Lott1, Williamson-Lott2, Williamson-Lott3.
4Final paper option 1: Research paper: For those of you most comfortable with standard research papers, this option may be of interest. You can choose your own topic, but be aware that the topic has to be related to education, and you must at least begin your discussion prior to 1970. There are several possibilities for this type of paper. For instance, you may choose a theme and trace it through history, choose a particular reform initiative and evaluate its outcomes, choose a particular ethnic/gender/religious group and discuss their educational experiences, or tease out competing positions on a particular educational reform. Not matter its topic, it should be approximately 12-15 pages in length. A list of guidelines follows. Submit it in the folder marked “final paper” on the course website. My document would be titled “Williamson-Lott final paper.”
Final paper option 2: Review essay: For those of you beginning thesis/dissertation work, this option may be of interest. You will write a 12-15 page review essay on some issue related to the course material using at least six sources for the basis of your review. A list of guidelines follows. Submit it in the folder marked “final paper” on the course website. My document would be titled “Williamson-Lott final paper.”
Course Calendar
January
7Introduction to class
14Notions of the purpose of education
Counts, Dare Schools Build a New Social Order
Freire, excerpt from Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Schlesinger, excerpt from The Disuniting of America
21 Early education of “domestic foreigners:” Native Americans and Mexican Americans
Donato, “Schooling in the Pre-Brown Era”
San Miguel, “Roused from Our Slumbers”
Adams, “Models”
Child, “From Reservation to Boarding School”
“Luther Standing Bear (Lakota) Recalls His Experience”
28Women’s education: Gender, class and racial implications
Hall, “The Kind of Women Colleges Produce”
Solomon, “The Utility of their Educations”
Perkins, “The Impact of the ‘Cult of True Womanhood’”
Smith, “Grandma Went to Smith, All Right, but She Went there from Nine to Five”
PRELIMINARY PAPER TOPIC AND BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE[SoE1]
February
4 Religious education: Jews, Catholics and separate schools
Rauch, “The Jewish Day School in America”
Mary Antin, excerpts from The Promised Land
Walch, chapters 2 and 3 in Parish School: American Catholic Parochial Education
“Petitions of the Catholics of New York for a Portion of the Common-School Fund”
“John Ireland: State and Parish Schools, 1890”
“Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, 1884”
11How to educate “new” citizens: The education of African Americans after the Civil War
Washington, Up From Slavery (especially chapters I-V, VII, VIII, X, XIV)
DuBois, “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others” (in back of Washington book)
Anderson, “The Hampton Model of Normal School Industrial Education”
18Language issues: Does an American have to speak English?
Language Loyalties readings
Board of Directors of St. Louis Schools, Annual Report on German instruction
Sekhon, “A Birthright Rearticulated: The Politics of Bilingual Education”
Proposition 227 (in back of Sekhon)
MIDTERM ASSIGNMENT DUE
25Achieving quality education through desegregation
Wollenberg, “Mendez v. Westminster”
Stanley, “Bringing Anti-Racism into Historical Explanation”
Brown v. Board of Education 1954 and 1955
Bell, Silent Covenants, Introduction-Chapter 3
March
4College students defining education
Perlstein and Radical Teacher readings on SNCC and Freedom Schools
Van deBurg, “Who Were the Militants”
Chicano Coordinating Council, “El Plan de Santa Barbara”
11 Class wrap-up (BRING YOUR READINGS WITH YOU)
FINAL PAPER DUE MARCH 16
ADDITIONAL SOURCES ON DIFFERENT GROUPS AND THEIR EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES
(this list is far from exhaustive and is only meant to give you a head start for research paper purposes)
Sources on Native American Education
Adams, David Wallace. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the
Boarding School Experience 1875-1929. University Press of Kansas, 1995.
Jaimes, M. Annette, ed. The State of Native America. Boston, MA: South End
Press, 1992.
Szasz, Margaret. Education and the American Indian: The Road to
Self-Determination. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1977.
Hurtado, Albert L., and Peter Iverson, eds. Major Problems in American
Indian History. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath and Company, 1994.
Lomawaima, K. Tsianina. They Called It Prairie Light: the Story of
Chilocco Indian School. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.
Riney, Scott. The Rapid City Indian School, 1898-1933. Norman: University
of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
Braudy, Susan. “‘We Will Remember’: Survival School.” Ms., July 1976.
Foster, George Everett. “See-quo-yah: The American Cadmus and Modern
Moses.” New York: AMS Press, 1885.
Mankiller, Wilma, and Michael Wallis. Mankiller: A Chief and Her People.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.
Moulton, Gary E., ed. The Papers of Chief John Ross, Vol 1, 1807-1839.
University of Georgia Press, 1985.
Traveller Bird, Tell Them They Lie: The Sequoyah Myth. Los Angeles:
Westernlore Publishers, 1971.
Sources on Catholic Education
Perko, F. Michael, ed. Enlightening the Next Generation: Catholics and Their Schools 1830-1980. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1988.
Walch, Timothy. Parish School: American Catholic Parochial Education from Colonial Times to the Present. New York: Crossroad Publications, 1996, pp. 23-52.
McCluskey, S.J., Neil G., ed. Catholic Education in America, A Documentary History, Classics in Education No. 21, New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1964.
Vinyard, JoEllen McNergney. For Faith and Fortune: The Education of Catholic Immigrants in Detroit, 1805-1925. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998.
Carper, James C. and Thomas C. Hunt, Religious Schooling in America, Birmingham: Religious Education Press, 1984.
Veverka, Fayette Breaux. For God and Country: Catholic Schooling in the 1920s. New York: Garland Publishing, 1988.
Sources on Mexican American Education
Manuel, Herschel. Spanish-Speaking Children of the Southwest: Their Education and the Public Welfare. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1965.
Weinberg, Meyer. A Chance to Learn: The History of Race and Education in the United States. New York: Cambridge Press, 1977.
Darder, Antonia, Rodolfo Torres, & Henry Gutierrez, eds. Latinos and Education: A Critical Reader. New York: Routledge, 1997.
Donato, Ruben. “Hispano Education and the Implications of Autonomy: Four School Systems in Southern Colorado, 1920-1963.” Harvard Educational Review 69, no. 2 (summer 1999): 117-149.
Contreras, A. Reynaldo and Leonard A. Valverde, “The Impact of Brown on the Education of Latinos.” Journal of Negro Education 63, no. 3 (1994): 470-481.
San Miguel, Jr., Guadalupe. Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2001.
Donato, Ruben. The Other Struggle for Equal Schools: Mexican Americans during the Civil Rights Era. New York: State University of New York Press, 1997.
Moreno, Jose, ed. The Elusive Quest for Equality: 150 Years of Chicano/Chicana Education. Cambridge: Harvard Educational Review, 1999.
San Miguel, Jr., Guadalupe. “Let All of Them Take Heed:” Mexican Americans and the Campaign for Educational Equality in Texas, 1910-1981. Austin, University of Texas Press, 1987.
“Project Report: De Jure Segregation of Chicanos in Texas Schools.” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 7, no. 2 (March 1972): 307-391.
Rosales, F. Arturo. Chicano! The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1996.
Select Subcommittee on Equal Educational Opportunity, United States Senate 91st cong., 2nd sess., Part 4: Mexican American Education. Washington D.C., GPO, 1970.
Sources on Women’s Education
Tyack, David and Elisabeth Hansot. Learning Together: A History of Coeducation in America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1992.
Tocarczyk, Michelle M. and Elizabeth A. Fay, eds. Working-Class Women in the Academy: Laborers in the Knowledge Factory. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1993.
Eisenmann, Linda, ed.Historical Dictionary of Women’s Education in the United States. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Solomon, Barbara Miller. In the Company of Educated Women: A History of Women and Higher Education in America, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985.
Faragher, John Mack and Florence Howe, eds. Women and Higher Education in American History. New York; W.W. Norton and Company, 1988.
Gordon, Lynn. Gender and Higher Education in the Progressive Era. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
Kerber, Linda, “Separate Spheres, Female Worlds, Woman’s Place: The Rhetoric of Women’s History.” Journal of American History 75 (June 1988), 9-39.
Woody, Thomas. A History of Women’s Education in the United States. New York: Octagon Books, 1974.
Sources on Jewish Education
Drachler, Norman, ed. A Bibliography of Jewish Education in the United States. Cincinnati: Wayne State University Press, 1996.
Schiff, Alvin. The Jewish Day School in America. New York: Jewish Education Committee Press, 1996.
Pilch, Judah, ed. A History of Jewish Education in the United States. New York: National Curriculum Research Institute of the American Association for Jewish Education, 1969.
Gartner, Lloyd, ed. Jewish Education in the United States: A Documentary History. New York: Teachers College Press, 1969.
Winter, Nathan H. Jewish Education in a Pluralist Society: Samson Benderly and Jewish Education in the United States. New York: New York University Press, 1966.
Goren, Arthur. New York Jews and the Quest for Community: The Kehillah Experiment, 1908-1922. New York: Columbia University, 1970.
Berkson, Isaac B. Theories of Americanization, A Critical Study: With Special Reference to the Jewish Group.New York: Teachers College Press, 1920.
Dushkin, Alexander M. Jewish Education in New York City. New York, The Bureau of Jewish Education, 1918.