In early American history, a literate and well-educated majority of Americans thrived without a national, tax-funded educational program. In fact, few of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence and drafted the U.S. Constitution had ever seen a public school, and yet they benefited from a free system of education vastly superior to the imagined benefits of today's state-controlled schooling. What happened over the course of the last and a half centuries? Why did Americans surrender the educational freedom that produced such widespread academic excellence to embrace a state of functional illiteracy under complete government control? In his seminal book Is Public Education Necessary?, Samuel Blumenfeld unpacks two centuries of source material to present an accurate history of the religious and philosophical transformations that gave birth to the educational statism controlling America's children today. From the New England Puritan experiments in compulsory schooling to the Unitarian crusades to perfect man with the "strong arm of government", Blumenfeld shows that public education in America has always been more about religion than literacy. A colorful history full of fascinating characters and incisive commentary, Is Public Education Necessary? challenges American parents to discard the common wisdom concerning public schools to reshoulder the responsibilities that are rightfully theirs, to fight to keep the liberties they inherited, and to teach their children to do the same.
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About the Author
About the author: Samuel L. Blumenfeld is the author of nine books on education, including How to Tutor (1978), NEA:Trojan Horse in American Education (1984), The Victims of Dick & Jane and Other Essays (2003), and Revolution via Education (2009). A popular lecturer all over the world, Mr. Blumenfeld was educated in New York City public schools and had taught in both the public and private spheres. He lives in suburban Boston and continues to contribute to such publications as Reason, The New American, The New York Times, The Chalcedon Report, and Education Digest.
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Samuel L. Blumenfeld is a resident of suburban Boston. He is a native New Yorker who was educated in the public schools of New York city and City College of New York. Before turning full-time writer he was a book and magazine editor. To give himself frontline experience for his books on education he served as a substitute teacher in the Quincy, Massachusetts, public schools. He is chairman of the Massachusetts branch of the Reading Reform Foundation.
Blumenfled's articles have appeared in the New York Times, Herald Tribune, Commentary, American Opinion, Ideas, Reason, Inquiry, American Education, Vital Speeches, Education Digest, American Legion Magazine, Conservative Digest and Boston Magazine. He has authored seven books on the subject of education. Several of his books have been given the highest ratings by Mary Pride and Cathy Duffy, two of the leading homeschool curricula reviewers.He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from Bob Jones University in May 1986.
Dr. Blumenfeld is a popular lecturer, teacher and advisor at many conferences, workshops and conventions, especially homeschool conferences. He has participated in such events on every continent.
Blumenfeld is frequently heard on numerous radio and TV talk shows across the U.S.
Blumenfled's articles have appeared in the New York Times, Herald Tribune, Commentary, American Opinion, Ideas, Reason, Inquiry, American Education, Vital Speeches, Education Digest, American Legion Magazine, Conservative Digest and Boston Magazine. He has authored seven books on the subject of education. Several of his books have been given the highest ratings by Mary Pride and Cathy Duffy, two of the leading homeschool curricula reviewers.He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from Bob Jones University in May 1986.
Dr. Blumenfeld is a popular lecturer, teacher and advisor at many conferences, workshops and conventions, especially homeschool conferences. He has participated in such events on every continent.
Blumenfeld is frequently heard on numerous radio and TV talk shows across the U.S.
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34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Historic Overview of the Development of Public Education,
By Adrian C Keister (Radford, VA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Is public education necessary? (Hardcover)
Mr. Blumenfeld does an excellent job bringing out the true history of public education, as Robert Owen and Horace Mann thought of it. He pays special attention to the conflict between the Calvinists (responsible for the American form of government) and the Unitarians. He rightly pinpoints the Unitarian take-over of Harvard as one of the most important and far-reaching events in the history of education. He chronicles the way in which the Unitarians copied the Prussian idea for a public school, delves into their motives, and comes to his conclusion. Incidentally, the motives the Calvinists had for education was to teach people how to read the Bible. The Unitarians wanted education to reform the world. Looking at the utter failure of education to reform the world, one can only come to the conclusion that the Calvinist ideal, while not appealing to all, worked very much better. There is no way to teach ethics and morality while attempting to leave religion out.All in all, it is an extremely carefully documented book with extensive quotations from the original sources, and quite well worth the read. I highly recommend it!
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is Public Education Necessary?,
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This review is from: Is Public Education Necessary? (Paperback)
A well written, well researched book.Discover the ways public education was implemented, first in Massachusetts, which was a wrangling battle for decades, then elsewhere. From the early colonies and the 'Prussian model' up through Horace Mann. Gives the origins of the thinking that was used to bring the notion that state provided education is desireable and necessary. Be Aware, this notion is not one the early American communities relied on. They relied on their church, their neighbor, themselves, and their representative government. As Professor Richard A Baer, Jr., Cornell University wrote after reading the book - "Superb" "An oasis of sanity in the statist wasteland created by the government's education system." - Frank E. Fortkamp, Reason Magazine
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read this book!,
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This review is from: Is Public Education Necessary? (Paperback)
If you are getting into education it will open your eyes to the fraud of the government public school system. If you are a taxpayer it will make your blood boil at how your money is being wasted to indoctrinate children into the idea that government is good.
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