“Public Schools and American Democracy”: Lecture with Prof. Johann Neem

Drawing on research from his new book, Democracy’s Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017), Western Washington University Professor and Chair of History Johann Neem’s February 15 lecture at the Kinder Instituted explored the historic purposes for the development of public education—educating citizens, developing human capabilities, and forging a nation—in order to address questions concerning whether or not these purposes continue to guide our educational institutions and why we seem to be losing faith in them.