Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality: A Brief History of the Education of Dominated Cultures in the United States

Based largely on material from Joel Spring’s The American School 1649-2000, Fifth Edition, Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality is a concise history of Anglo American racism and school policies affecting dominated groups in the United States. Spring focuses on the educational, legal and social construction of race and racism, and on educational practices related to deculturalization, segregation, and the civil rights movement. He emphasizes issues of power and control in schools and how the dominant Anglo class has stripped away the culture of minority peoples in the US and replaced it with the dominant culture.

Spring gives voice to the often-overlooked perspectives of African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, and Native Americans. An understanding of these historical perspectives and how they impact current conditions and policies is critical to teachers’ success or failure in today’s diverse classrooms. Very brief and affordable, Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality is an ideal supplement for Introduction/Foundations of Education, Multicultural Education, or any course that seeks to expand student notions of what U. S. education has been and is.