Who Invented School? The Surprising History of Education in America

Did Americans always send their children to public school?

Not even close.

In this episode of American History Hotline, Bob calls up historian and author Dixie Dillon Lane to explore the surprising history of education in America. From colonial classrooms and the self-taught education of Abigail Adams to the rise of public schools, compulsory education laws, and the modern homeschooling movement, this conversation reveals how Americans have thought about learning for more than 250 years.

Why did reformers like Horace Mann champion public schools? How did immigration, industrialization, the Great Depression, and the Cold War transform education? And why are more families today choosing alternatives to traditional public schools?

Dixie's book is Skipping School: A History of American Homeschooling and How It Went Mainstream

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