Conversation

The American High School

Each of the following texts presents a viewpoint on the American high school.

Sources

  1. Horace Mann, from Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education
  2. Todd Gitlin, The Liberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut
  3. Leon Botstein, Let Teenagers Try Adulthood
  4. Edward Koren, Two Scoreboards (cartoon)
  5. Diane Ravitch, Stop the Madness
  6. Eric A. Hanushek et al., from U.S. Math Performance in Global Perspective (tables)
  7. David Barboza, from Shanghai Schools’ Approach Pushes Students to Top of Tests

After you have read, studied, and synthesized these pieces, enter the conversation with one of the suggested topics on pp. 266–7.