Overview of Lesson:
Examine the historical origins of schooling and how schools operate in contemporary society. It has been argued that the public school is an institution that serves democratic ideals. The purpose of this lesson is to examine how well schools serve said purposes. Discussion topics will help you understand schools as a major social institution. Instead of relying solely on school-specific examples, the class examines school from a wider societal lens. Within this context, students are given the opportunity to think about the schooling process, how it is influenced by the society at large, and the impact of these policies on the social and economic lives of Black American communities.
Author: Fatima Brunson, PhD.
Instructions for Task:
- Assign Students to read “A Nation at Risk” and “Punished for Dreaming.
- Use the TSP guide to begin a discussion.
- Use the links from the LOC African American Digital archives to engage a visual analysis of the comments discussed in step 2.
