Category: Schooling

Guhin: How Covid Can Change What Schools Are For

by David Labaree, posted in Educational goals, Inequality, Schooling, Social mobility

This post is a short essay by Jeffrey Guhin published on August 27, 2020 in Hedgehog Review.  In it he puts forth an argument about the purpose of schooling that resonates with some of my own work, including recent posts here such as this, this, and this.  Here's a link to the original. How COVID Can … Continue reading Guhin: How Covid Can Change What Schools Are For

Public Schooling as Social Welfare

by David Labaree, posted in History of education, Public Good, Schooling, Welfare

This post is a follow-up to a piece I posted three weeks ago, which was Michael Katz's 2020 essay, Public Education as Welfare.  Below is my own take on this subject, which I wrote for a book that will be published in recognition of the hundredth anniversary of the Horace Mann League.  The tentative title … Continue reading Public Schooling as Social Welfare

Michael Katz — Public Education as Welfare

by David Labaree, posted in History, Schooling, Welfare

In this post, I reproduce a seminal essay by Michael Katz called "Public Education as Welfare." It was originally published in Dissent in 2010 (link to the original) and it draws on his book, The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American Welfare State.   I encountered this essay when I was working on a piece of … Continue reading Michael Katz — Public Education as Welfare

What Kids Miss When They Go Without School

by David Labaree, posted in Inequality, Schooling, Social Programs

This is an op-ed I published in the New York Daily News on Friday.  It’s on the things we miss about schools when they close – a reminder about the nonacademic functions of school that are closer to our hearts than its academic functions. What Kids Miss When They Go Without School David F. Labaree … Continue reading What Kids Miss When They Go Without School

Two Cheers for School Bureaucracy

by David Labaree, posted in Featured, Inequality, School organization, Schooling, Sociology

This post is a piece I wrote for Kappan, published in the March 2020 edition.  Here's a link to the PDF. Bureaucracies are often perceived as inflexible, impersonal, hierarchical, and too devoted to rules and red tape. But here I make a case for these characteristics being a positive in the world of public education. … Continue reading Two Cheers for School Bureaucracy

What Schools Can Do that Families Can’t: Robert Dreeben’s Analysis

by David Labaree, posted in Family, Meritocracy, Modernity, Schooling, Sociology, Teaching

In this post, I explore a key issue in understanding the social role that schools play:  Why do we need schools anyway?  For thousands of years, children grew up learning the skills, knowledge, and values they would need in order to be fully functioning adults.  They didn't need schools to accomplish this.  The family, the … Continue reading What Schools Can Do that Families Can’t: Robert Dreeben’s Analysis

Course: School — What Is It Good For?

by David Labaree, posted in Course Syllabus, Schooling, Theory

This post is the syllabus of a course I taught for years at the Stanford Graduate School of Education.  It's called School -- What Is It Good For? I've copied the syllabus below, to give you an idea of what it's all about.  The aim is to provide a guided exploration of alternative theories of … Continue reading Course: School — What Is It Good For?