Designed to Fail: A History of Education in the United States
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When our children go through their school day, they are living in a system purposely designed in the 19th and early 20th centuries to fail the vast majority of students. Driving 80 percent of children out of school before ninth grade was the intention, and the students targeted for failure were Black, Catholic, Jewish, disabled, neurodiverse, and anyone who wasn’t from the political and economic elite.
We rarely discuss the intentions of the men who designed the way schools are, but those intentions have created our school buildings, schedules, grading systems, the division of learners by age, the division of subjects, and behavioral expectations.
Designed to Fail: A History of Education in the United States is an accessible path to understanding the power dynamics preserving a system providing one kind of education to the children of wealth and another to the rest. Based on Ph.D. research and built with 28 years experience in diverse schools across states, it tells the story of the constant battle between education as opportunity and education as social reproduction.
“I have known Ira Socol for many years and have long appreciated his keen intellect, deep knowledge of education history and policy, and most of all, his unwavering passion to make schooling work for all children. In "Designed to Fail," Socol offers a thoughtful yet unvarnished look at how the American education system came to be and why it continues to fall short for so many students. With righteous anger tempered by scholarly insight, he traces the troubling origins of many educational practices we take for granted, exposing how they were intentionally designed to limit opportunities for marginalized groups. What sets this book apart, however, is that Socol does not merely critique - he also charts a path forward. Drawing on his vast experience as an educator and reformer, he provides concrete ways that schools can be redesigned to truly serve all learners. While acknowledging the magnitude of change required, Socol's vision is ultimately one of hope. He understands the transformative power of education when done right, and this book is a powerful call to create schools worthy of our children. This book is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of education in America.”— Punya Mishra, Associate Dean of Scholarship & Innovation in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University
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