Abstract

The Midwest whose public school history Paul Theobald analyzes includes the states of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and South and North Dakota, where rural people resisted state-sponsored schooling that originally had developed in eastern urban communities to mitigate the "crisis" children were facing in dense immigrant populations. The problems of the cities did not apply to the rural Midwest in the mid-19th century, and many people resented the schools' focus on such industrial values as individualism, competition, efficiency, and specialization. Another important factor in the early development of rural public schooling that Theobald narrates is his finding that "inter-Protestant competition resulted in both pro- and anti-common school sentiment among various groups," and he emphasizes that "rural resistance represents a profound contribution to the history of education in the United States." Other chapters explore the high degree of mobility of Midwestern residents and how schooling was affected by people moving around. Theobald explains the importance of school boards, who both caused varying districts to hold on to their regional characteristics and autonomy and, in aggregate, agreed on keeping women and people who did not own land from positions of power. He also details daily experiences of teachers and students and analyzes relationships among various layers of school authority.

How to Cite:

Hampsten, E., (1996) “Book Review: Call School: Rural Education in the Midwest to 1918”, Journal of Research in Rural Education 12(2), 118–119.

Rights: Copyright