School: The Story of American Public Education

As a companion to the PBS series of the same name, this book takes us through the history of how the American public education system was formed. A number of education historians guide us across the early twentieth century to show how immigration, child labor laws, and industrial growth brought a surge of school attendance and new attention to a cohesive formalized schooling in the U.S. Then we follow the documentary through the fight for equal education from the 1950s and touch on current hot-button topics still being debated about our classrooms. This is a great guide to the PBS show or an excellent stand-alone historical read.