The Tragedy of American School Reform Also by Ronald W. Evans The Hope for American School Reform: The Cold War Pursuit of Inquiry Learning in Social Studies This Happened in America: Harold Rugg and the Censure of Social Studies The Social Studies Wars: What Should We Teach the Children? The Handbook on Teaching Social Issues (coeditor) The Tragedy of American School Reform How Curriculum Politics and Entrenched Dilemmas Have Diverted Us from Democracy Ronald W. Evans Palgrave macmillan THE TRAGEDY OF AMERICAN SCHOOL REFORM Copyright © Ronald W. Evans, 2011. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-10798-4 All rights reserved. Portions of Chapter 1 are adapted from “National Security Trumps Social Progress: The Era of the New Social Studies in Retrospect.” by Ronald W. Evans, 2010, in Barbara Slater-Stern, (ed.), The New Social Studies: People, Politics and Perspectives, 1–40. Copyright 2010 by Information Age Publishing. Adapted with permission. First published in 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-29083-3 ISBN 978-0-230-11910-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230119109 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Evans, Ronald W. The tragedy of American school reform : how curriculum politics and entrenched dilemmas have diverted us from democracy / Ronald W. Evans. p. cm. 1. Social studies—Study and teaching—United States. 2. Educational change—United States. I. Title. LB1585.3.E93 2011 300.719073—dc22 2011005469 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: May 2011 This book is dedicated to my late mentor, Richard E. Gross, who read a previous draft manuscript and remarked, “This is what we’ve been up against for all these years.” Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Challenges of Curriculum Development 1 The Problem 4 Part I Changes 1 The New Social Studies 9 Cold War Origins 9 Emergence 15 The Projects 20 Concerns and Critiques 23 Reform in Perspective 24 2 The Newer Social Studies 27 1968: The Year Everything Changed 28 The New-W ave Critique of Schooling 35 New Trends in Social Studies 46 Conclusion 57 3 Larger Trends in Schools 59 Open Education 60 Multicultural Education 64 Critical Pedagogy 68 Behind the Newer Social Studies 72 Influence in Schools 75 Conclusion 79 Part II Reaction 4 Aftermath: “We Face a National Conspiracy” 83 Academic Freedom Cases 84 The Fenton Textbook Controversy 86 viii Contents The Kanawha County War 91 Conclusion 97 5 The MACOS Controversy and Beyond 99 Initial Confrontations 100 Nationwide Controversy 114 Who Were the Critics? 119 Controversy in Congress 127 Conclusion 146 6 The Conservative Restoration 149 Books Burning in Indiana 149 The Conservative Restoration in School and Society 155 A Nation at Risk? 165 The Revival of Traditional History 171 Explaining the Conservative Restoration 178 Conclusion 182 Part III Making Sense 7 Can We Transcend the Grammar of Social Studies? 185 Status Studies 186 Constancy and Change 192 The Grammar of Social Studies 196 Failure of the New and Newer Social Studies 203 Conclusion: Reflections on Education for Democracy 209 Dissonance 210 Can We Make a Difference? 211 Lasting Impressions 213 List of Abbreviations 217 List of Manuscript Collections Abbreviated in Notes 221 Notes 223 Index 251 Illustrations (Following Page 98) 1 Jerome S. Bruner 2 Edwin P. Fenton 3 Alice Moore Reelection Poster 4 Mel and Norma Gabler 5 Robert Welch, founder of the John Birch Society 6 Peter B. Dow 7 Jigging for lake trout 8 John Steinbacher 9 Congressman John B. Conlan 10 Legislative aide George H. Archibald, with Vice President Gerald R. Ford, at a 1973 fundraiser for Congressman Conlan 11 E d Feulner introducing President Ronald Reagan at a Heritage Foundation dinner, November 30, 1987 12 J oseph Coors and President Ronald Reagan shaking hands while attending a dinner for the board of governors of the Ronald Reagan Library Foundation at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC, December 14, 1985 13 George C. Wallace announces he is a presidential candidate, February 8, 1968 14 William J. Bennett, Secretary of Education, 1985–1988 15 Diane Ravitch, with Barbara Bush Cover photograph: Demonstrator holding sign in front of Kanawha County Board of Education, 1974. Courtesy of Bill Tiernan, photogra- pher, Nanya Friend, editor and publisher of the Charleston Daily Mail, and Trey Kay. Acknowledgments As I send this book to press, I would like to acknowledge all of the people who made contributions to this project. First, the work could not have been completed without the helpful assistance of many archivists and the access to materials they provided. I would like to express my deep grati- tude to Jennie Benford at Carnegie Mellon University Archives; Nora Murphy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Institute Archives; David Ment at Milbank Memorial Library and Archives at Teachers College, Columbia University; Janice Goldblum at the National Academy of Sciences Archives; Sharon Kelly of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library; and the reference staff at Harvard University Archives. I thank the many archivists and support staff at each of these institutions and elsewhere who endured my endless requests, helped locate materials, and offered many wise suggestions. I would particularly like to acknowledge the helpful assistance of Alan Walker at the National Archives Civilian Record Unit, College Park, Maryland, who guided me to many helpful materials, and Peter Dow, who gave me full access to the EDC materials while they were in his care. Both were extremely helpful. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of several archivists and others who supplied photographs and permissions including Bill Tiernan and Nanya Friend of the Charleston Daily Mail; Trey Kay, pro- ducer of “The Great Textbook War”; Jennie Benford of Carnegie Mellon University Archives; Debra Basham of the West Virginia State Archives; Danny Turner of Danny Turner Photography, Dallas, Texas; Scott Rook of the Oregon Historical Society; Peter Dow of Buffalo, New York; William Hulsey of the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC); Wendy Saul and Inda Sachaenen of the University of Missouri-St. Louis; Wendy Goen of the Arizona State Historical Archive; Kathy White of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama; Bonnie Burlbaw of the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library; Steve Branch and Michael Pinckney of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; John Steinbacher; Ted Fenton; and George H. Archibald. I would also like to thank Trey