Abstract
Every nation has a unique cultural history. In the United States, political governance (e.g., public welfare) and economic power (e.g., property rights) have not only dominated educational reform discourses, but also have vied continuously to influence and reframe debates on leadership for learning. As such, a knowledge of US cultural history should be important to educational leaders, most notably to provide school administrators with a cultural perspective for interpreting current practices and policies – and not see current educational reform(s) only within the narrow context of the present. The problem is that educators and researchers live and work in the present and, thus, have never had any educational experiences except what they know as educational reform policies and practices. Educators today have been unduly influenced by powerful economic forces, billionaire philanthropists, foundations, and ideological think tanks, rather than by the many on-the-ground local school leaders. This chapter asks, what would past US revolutionaries, James Madison, Horace Mann, John Dewey, Elsie Clapp, and Alice Miel, say about educational leadership and reforms today?
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Notes
- 1.
This timeframe, a span of over 200 years, is obviously too ambitious for a single chapter – as a documented history. But the purpose of this chapter is not to provide an historical analysis of school leadership, but rather the purpose is to demonstrate the significance for the field of school leadership to embrace both history and culture. Specifically, I will explain how school leadership practices and K-12 policies have been and will continue to be influenced by a nation’s history and culture.
- 2.
Writing in 1776, before the system of public education had been established in the United States, the Scottish economist Adam Smith wrote: “The expense of the institutions for education and religious instruction, is likewise, no doubt, beneficial to the whole society, and may, therefore, without injustice, be defrayed by the general contributions of the whole society” (p. 488).
- 3.
This is not the time to engage in the ongoing debate over the role that schools play in the overall education of a society. Both schools and social systems of education matter and make a difference. What is relevant to this discussion is to make visible inclusive arguments linking schools to social development. To quote Jacques Barzun (1954) in Teacher in America (New York: Doubleday), “Teaching is not a lost art but the regard for teaching is a lost tradition” (p. 16). The role of cultural history for educational leadership is to keep true American traditions of all generations alive for discussion and debate.
- 4.
From 1976 to 2005, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores for the verbal sections were flat: from 509 to 508; in math, however, the scores rose from 497 to 520, but then have dropped to 515. Likewise, verbal scores have dropped to 502 by 2007. Source: National Center for Educational Statistics.
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Acknowledgements
I want to thank the many critical friends of this manuscript: Jacqueline Ackerina, Catherine Lugg, Daniel Reyes-Guerra, Tommy Tucker, Marianne Russo, Thelma Shapiro, Scott Smith, and Evana Tamayo.
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Bogotch, I. (2011). US Cultural History: Visible and Invisible Influences on Leadership for Learning. In: Townsend, T., MacBeath, J. (eds) International Handbook of Leadership for Learning. Springer International Handbooks of Education, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1350-5_2
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