Land of Fair Promise: Politics and Reform in Los Angeles Schools, 1885-1941

This book uses a case study of education and educational reform in Los Angeles as a lens for viewing a wide range of political and cultural questions involved in urban development in the American West, notably the manner and motives of those who changed school policy. Rapid population growth after 1885 and the recognition that large numbers of school children were either non-white or non-English-speaking compelled Western Progressives to reestablish order and end corrupt schoolboard practices. Drawing on the ideas of Jane Addams and John Dewey, reformers made the Los Angeles school system an instance of apparently effective reform, not only in educational terms, but also administratively and in the broad range of social services provided under school direction - penny-lunch programs, after-hour playgrounds, day-care centers, adult classes, and home classes for shut-in mothers. But these achievements bore increasingly equivocal results as industrialization, immigration, and urbanization contributed to immense social and economic problems, and reformers intensified programs to Americanize immigrant children. More complicated and divisive progressive politics vied increasingly with professionalization and grassroots pressure from immigrant groups to determine education policy. Many of the leading Los Angeles reformers were women, newly empowered by suffrage, who expanded their campaigns for social change. Also, since women composed most of the teaching force, they began to see themselves as professional educators. But professionalization proved to be a double-edged sword. Better trained than their predecessors, women nevertheless had to fight to hold on to their status as the school system became more efficient, more structured, and more impersonal. Professionalization also led to clashes between professionals: psychologists introduced IQ measurement, and many classroom teachers found mental testing unreliable and sought alternate methods to evaluate the abilities of children. Reformers, educators, and ethnic organizations worked assiduously to modify the social behavior of the now-diverse school population. Despite differences, these groups together built a new social fabric, a patchwork shaped by the unrelenting realities of twentieth-century America. The book is illustrated with 14 photographs.
ASIN: 0804719306
VSKU: BVV.0804719306.A
Condition: Acceptable
Author/Artist:Raftery, Judith Rosenberg
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item is very worn but is perfectly usable. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing age related spots and browning . May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.