The World in Time

Derek W. Black

Friday, November 13, 2020

The Country School, by Winslow Homer, 1871.

The Country School, by Winslow Homer, 1871. Saint Louis Art Museum.

“The word education cannot, to the surprise of many, be found in the Constitution, so they conclude that education holds no special place in our constitutional structure,” the historian Derek W. Black writes in his book Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy. “This isolated fact dominates the thinking of those who should know better. The list of scholars, judges, and politicians who say the federal government has no role in public education is a long one. Even worse, some thought leaders are now saying that the concept of public education—whether run by state or federal government—is a farce. They ignore an incredibly rich education history.” Lewis H. Lapham and Black discuss the role of public education—at the founding of the United States, during and after Reconstruction, and now—on this episode of The World in Time.

 

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with Derek W. Black, author of Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy.

 

Thanks to our generous donors. Lead support for this podcast has been provided by Elizabeth “Lisette” Prince. Additional support was provided by James J. “Jimmy” Coleman Jr.

Discussed in this episode

More Podcasts

May 21, 2021

The World in Time:

Sonia Shah

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with the author of The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move. More

The Cantino planisphere, made by an anonymous cartographer in 1502, shows the world as it was understood by Europeans after their great explorations at the end of the fifteenth century.

May 26, 2017

The World in Time:

Ian Mortimer

Lewis Lapham talks with Ian Mortimer about the past millennium of human innovation. More

April 01, 2022

The World in Time:

Peter S. Goodman

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with the author of Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World. More

June 14, 2019

The World in Time:

David Wallace-Wells

Lewis H. Lapham talks with the author of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. More

October 15, 2021

The World in Time:

Charles Foster

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with the author of Being a Human: Adventures in Forty Thousand Years of Consciousness. More

Midwinter rural scene in far-west Texas. February 15, 2014. Carol M. Highsmith. The Library of Congress.

November 10, 2017

The World in Time:

Roger D. Hodge

Lewis H. Lapham talks with Roger D. Hodge, author of Texas Blood: Seven Generations Among the Outlaws, Ranchers, Indians, Missionaries, Soldiers, and Smugglers of the Borderlands. More