History of Education (HSED-UE)

The course description should also be updated to: This course examines the historical relationship between education, the American Dream, and achievement culture. Students explore how individualism, capitalism, and self-sufficiency have shaped education and connect these foundations to today’s toxic achievement culture. Key questions frame the course: Who has mattered in shaping education? How does mattering buffer against toxic achievement culture? Why is mattering essential for understanding educational history and current culture? Satisfies Liberal Arts CORE, Societies and Social Sciences for Steinhardt students.

This course introduces students to the central themes, issues, & controversies in American education. What is the purpose of “school”? How did schools begin, in the United States, & how have they evolved across time? How do children learn? How are they different from each other, & why & when should that matter? How should we teach them? & how should we structure schools & classrooms to promote learning? Liberal Arts Core/CORE Equivalent - satisfies the requirement for Society & Social Sciences for Steinhardt students.

Explores why the 1960s witnessed the greatest upsurge of student activism in American history. Assesses student movements’ impact on race and gender relations, US foreign policy, free speech, and the university. The backlash against Left student activism from anti-radical politicians, the FBI, and CIA will be probed, as will the rise of conservative student activism. Examines debates over the meaning and legacies of this turbulent era’s youth revolt. Liberal Arts Core/CORE Equivalent- satisfies the requirement for Societies and Social Sciences for Steinhardt students.

This course will examine the origins, development, and meanings of so-called cultural conflict in the United States. Topics will include abortion, gay rights, bilingualism, and the teaching of evolution in public schools. Liberal Arts Core/CORE Equivalent - satisfies the requirement for Cultures & Contexts for Steinhardt students.

In the last years of World War II, Albert Camus wrote his novel, The Plague, as a way to illuminate the deep personal and societal ills around him. The book has again become popular as people struggle to understand the ramifications of the COVID-19 plague. Students and faculty use Camus’s work to explore what humans are experiencing and how they are reacting to this 21st century plague and its impact on frontline workers, marginalized communities, elections, and universities. Students write an extended review of The Plague to add their reflections to the conversation.

Reflecting the United States' birth as a slaveholding republic, many higher education institutions in pre-Civil War America promoted white supremacy ideologically and were subsidized economically by profits made via racial slavery. Students explore the role of US colleges and universities in institutionalizing racism, from this era of slavery though the heyday of Jim Crow racial segregation in the 20th century, and probe resistance to this regime among abolitionists, African American educators, Reflecting the United States' birth as a slaveholding republic, many higher education institutions in pre-Civil War America promoted white supremacy ideologically and were subsidized economically by profits made via racial slavery. Students explore the role of US colleges and universities in institutionalizing racism, from this era of slavery though the heyday of Jim Crow racial segregation in the 20th century, and probe resistance to this regime among abolitionists, African American educators, Reflecting the United States' birth as a slaveholding republic, many higher education institutions in pre-Civil War America promoted white supremacy ideologically and were subsidized economically by profits made via racial slavery. Students explore the role of US colleges and universities in institutionalizing racism, from this era of slavery though the heyday of Jim Crow racial segregation in the 20th century, and probe resistance to this regime among abolitionists, African American educators, integrationist lawyers, social scientists and civil rights organizations, as well as recent attempts by universities to confront their racist roots.

This course explores the nature & function of higher learning beginning with the Greeks & the ancient academy through the medieval rise of the universities & the expansion of the corporate culture of higher education. Students will be exposed to a vast array of classical works from the fields of philosophy, sociology, economics & the humanities. Student will apply the works of such thinkers as Plato, Kant, Veblen as well as others to ask critical questions about what has shaped their contemporary college experience. Liberal Arts Core/CORE Equivalent - satisfies the requirement for Texts & Ideas for Steinhardt students.