Educational Foundations
Philosophical and Historical Perspectives

This educational foundations book offers a comprehensive overview of American education history and a variety of classical, Enlightenment, and contemporary educational philosophers. While Educational Foundations includes a history of American education, it also looks at numerous policies, constitutional law cases, events, and political, religious, and social conflicts for students to consider while learning their subject matter. The text is divided into two sections: the first is a look at a broad array of philosophical influences from the Western canon, while the second is an exploration of the history of American education, focusing on a few specific eras. With strong and helpful pedagogical features and resources, such as class activities, suggested files, chapter objectives, and sidebar questions, this textbook is an excellent resource for students. It is useful for undergraduate and graduate courses in educational foundations.

Part I. Selected Philosophers: 1. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; 2. John Locke; 3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau; 4. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels; 5. John Dewey; 6. Paulo Freire; 7. Mary Wollstonecraft, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Jane Addams; Part II. History of American Education: 8. Colonial America; 9. Revolutionary era; 10. National/Antebellum era; 11. Post-Civil War era; 12. Progressive era; 13. Post World War II era; 14. 1980s and beyond; 15. The politics of privatization.

Brian W. Dotts is an Associate Professor of Educational Theory and Practice at the University of Georgia. He is author of The Political Education of Democratus (2015), and co-editor and contributor to his second book, The Elusive Thomas Jefferson (2017).