Purpose and Scope
A long and complicated history surrounds the arguments for and the realities of public education for
young people in the United States. How and why public schooling was founded in the United States, and
for whom, are the questions we have been exploring, drawing on a variety of artifacts and texts.
In entering this study of public education, we have studied how common sense ideas are ubiquitous
because they are repeated often and they appear to follow a simple logic. Yet, they often obscure the
complexity of human experience. Most of us have spent lots of time in school so we think we understand
schools really well. We are experts on our own experiences, but our experiences do not make us experts
on other people’s lives and experiences. Thus, we must develop our dispositions and lenses using a
collection of multiple perspectives to challenge our views and complicate what we know.
The Foundations Synthesis paper requires you to integrate what we have studied about the purposes of
schooling and how these have played out for different groups of people in this country over time. A
successful Foundations Synthesis paper will draw on:
● the texts we have read,
● the discussions and activities we have done together in class,
● and apply the analytic and critical skills you are developing in the course.
Description and Requirements
The paper is designed to be completed in 3 – 4 hours, but you have a full week in which to complete it.
We designed it this way so that you can structure the time and place for your work, and reduce the
pressure that can arise with an in-class writing task.
● You may refer to any of the class materials (readings, notes, slides, forms) as you work on this
assignment.
● You may discuss the paper with others in this class, but the paper you submit must be your own.
● Length: 1500 words
● Format:
○ Typed
○ double spaced
○ in Word or PDF (This is so that we can comment on your paper.)
○ Include a Works Cited or References section at the end of your paper, listing the texts on
which you drew, using APA Style format. Include a References section at the end of your
paper, listing the texts on which you drew, using APA Style format. Please use the
resources linked below for more information about writing using the APA Style format:
■ Video
■ Author-Date Citation System
■ Basic Principles of Citation
■ Student Sample Paper
Task
Read and make sure you follow the structure of this paper’s task:
1. Identify three myths about the development of U.S. public education in the nineteenth
century, including ideas about:
young people in the United States. How and why public schooling was founded in the United States, and
for whom, are the questions we have been exploring, drawing on a variety of artifacts and texts.
In entering this study of public education, we have studied how common sense ideas are ubiquitous
because they are repeated often and they appear to follow a simple logic. Yet, they often obscure the
complexity of human experience. Most of us have spent lots of time in school so we think we understand
schools really well. We are experts on our own experiences, but our experiences do not make us experts
on other people’s lives and experiences. Thus, we must develop our dispositions and lenses using a
collection of multiple perspectives to challenge our views and complicate what we know.
The Foundations Synthesis paper requires you to integrate what we have studied about the purposes of
schooling and how these have played out for different groups of people in this country over time. A
successful Foundations Synthesis paper will draw on:
● the texts we have read,
● the discussions and activities we have done together in class,
● and apply the analytic and critical skills you are developing in the course.
Description and Requirements
The paper is designed to be completed in 3 – 4 hours, but you have a full week in which to complete it.
We designed it this way so that you can structure the time and place for your work, and reduce the
pressure that can arise with an in-class writing task.
● You may refer to any of the class materials (readings, notes, slides, forms) as you work on this
assignment.
● You may discuss the paper with others in this class, but the paper you submit must be your own.
● Length: 1500 words
● Format:
○ Typed
○ double spaced
○ in Word or PDF (This is so that we can comment on your paper.)
○ Include a Works Cited or References section at the end of your paper, listing the texts on
which you drew, using APA Style format. Include a References section at the end of your
paper, listing the texts on which you drew, using APA Style format. Please use the
resources linked below for more information about writing using the APA Style format:
■ Video
■ Author-Date Citation System
■ Basic Principles of Citation
■ Student Sample Paper
Task
Read and make sure you follow the structure of this paper’s task:
1. Identify three myths about the development of U.S. public education in the nineteenth
century, including ideas about:
○ who promoted and pursued education,
○ who held power,
○ whose interests were served, how, and why.
By “myths,” we mean stories that are widely believed but that are false. You might consider what
you thought before you took this course or even look at your responses to our first forms.
2. State each myth plainly and clearly, and explain what it is that is believed. What was its
intent or purpose, effects, and consequences?
3. Following your articulation of each myth, provide a critical counterpoint that challenges
the myth, and shows a perspective that has been distorted, omitted, or erased, drawing on
the texts we have read across these first several weeks.
○ Across the paper, you should draw on at least four different texts from our course. You
can engage with more than four texts in the class, but be sure you have four.
○ The texts you choose for each myth should support your explanation of the myth as well
as your capacity to unlearn and revise the myth. Consider your perspective on the myth
given the data offered in the class inclusive of primary sources, analysis, discussion, and
historization from a diverse perspective of voices across the development of U.S. public
education.
○ Surfacing taken-for-granted or widely believed ideas, analyzing their origins, and
considering the evidence critically is a major goal of our work together. This paper
provides an opportunity for you and for us to appraise your progress with this goal.
Evaluation
The Foundations Synthesis Paper is worth 40 points. We will use the criteria below to assess your paper.
You should use the criteria to support the development of your paper.
CRITERIA SCORE
1. Three separate and recognizable myths are articulated clearly, critically, and
offer evidence for each one provided from texts in the course.
9
2. Clear evidence from at least four different texts from our course is used and
critically explained. 8
3. Each myth is critically challenged and refuted or revised, using evidence
from texts we have studied along with your analysis.
12
4. The paper is clearly written and well organized. 5
5. The paper is proofread carefully and does not have grammatical or spelling
weaknesses.
4
6. The paper is 1500 words in length, plus or minus no more than 100 words. 1
7. The paper is double-spaced and has a References/Works Cited page. 1
Points Earned 40
○ who held power,
○ whose interests were served, how, and why.
By “myths,” we mean stories that are widely believed but that are false. You might consider what
you thought before you took this course or even look at your responses to our first forms.
2. State each myth plainly and clearly, and explain what it is that is believed. What was its
intent or purpose, effects, and consequences?
3. Following your articulation of each myth, provide a critical counterpoint that challenges
the myth, and shows a perspective that has been distorted, omitted, or erased, drawing on
the texts we have read across these first several weeks.
○ Across the paper, you should draw on at least four different texts from our course. You
can engage with more than four texts in the class, but be sure you have four.
○ The texts you choose for each myth should support your explanation of the myth as well
as your capacity to unlearn and revise the myth. Consider your perspective on the myth
given the data offered in the class inclusive of primary sources, analysis, discussion, and
historization from a diverse perspective of voices across the development of U.S. public
education.
○ Surfacing taken-for-granted or widely believed ideas, analyzing their origins, and
considering the evidence critically is a major goal of our work together. This paper
provides an opportunity for you and for us to appraise your progress with this goal.
Evaluation
The Foundations Synthesis Paper is worth 40 points. We will use the criteria below to assess your paper.
You should use the criteria to support the development of your paper.
CRITERIA SCORE
1. Three separate and recognizable myths are articulated clearly, critically, and
offer evidence for each one provided from texts in the course.
9
2. Clear evidence from at least four different texts from our course is used and
critically explained. 8
3. Each myth is critically challenged and refuted or revised, using evidence
from texts we have studied along with your analysis.
12
4. The paper is clearly written and well organized. 5
5. The paper is proofread carefully and does not have grammatical or spelling
weaknesses.
4
6. The paper is 1500 words in length, plus or minus no more than 100 words. 1
7. The paper is double-spaced and has a References/Works Cited page. 1
Points Earned 40
Our Texts
● Gorski, Paul. “The Myth of the“Culture of Poverty”.” Educational leadership 65, no. 7 (2008):
32.
● Yosso*, Tara J. “Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community
cultural wealth.” Race, ethnicity and education 8, no. 1 (2005): 69-91.
● Strauss, Valerie. “Howard Gardner:‘Multiple intelligences’ are not ‘learning styles’.” The
Washington Post 16 (2013). http://dr-hatfield.com/educ216/Howard%20Gardner.pdf
● Cremin, Lawrence A., ed. “Report No. 12 of the Massachusetts School Board. In The republic
and the school: Horace Mann on the education of free men. Teachers College Press, 1974.
● Douglass, Frederick. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.” Lexington, Ky.: SoHo
Books, 2010.
● Kaestle, Carl F. “Introduction” and “The Educated Citizen”. Pillars of the republic: Common
schools and American society, 1780-1860. Vol. 154. Macmillan, 1983.
● Adams, David Wallace. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School
Experience, 1875–1928. Revised and Expanded. University Press of Kansas, 2020.
● Lomawaima, K. Tsianina, Brenda Child, and Margaret Archuleta. “Away from home: American
Indian boarding school experiences.” With Margaret Archuleta and Brenda Child. Phoenix:
Heard Museum, 2000.
● Bates, LaRee. “Remembering Our Indian School Days | The Boarding School Experience.”
Phoenix: Heard Museum, 2019.
● McGreevy, John T. “The Eliot School Rebellion”. In Catholicism and American freedom: A
history. WW Norton & Company, 2004.
● Givens, Jarvis R., and Ashley Ison. “Toward New Beginnings: A Review of Native, White, and
Black American Education Through the 19th Century.” Review of Educational Research
(2022): 00346543221105544.
● Gorski, Paul. “The Myth of the“Culture of Poverty”.” Educational leadership 65, no. 7 (2008):
32.
● Yosso*, Tara J. “Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community
cultural wealth.” Race, ethnicity and education 8, no. 1 (2005): 69-91.
● Strauss, Valerie. “Howard Gardner:‘Multiple intelligences’ are not ‘learning styles’.” The
Washington Post 16 (2013). http://dr-hatfield.com/educ216/Howard%20Gardner.pdf
● Cremin, Lawrence A., ed. “Report No. 12 of the Massachusetts School Board. In The republic
and the school: Horace Mann on the education of free men. Teachers College Press, 1974.
● Douglass, Frederick. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.” Lexington, Ky.: SoHo
Books, 2010.
● Kaestle, Carl F. “Introduction” and “The Educated Citizen”. Pillars of the republic: Common
schools and American society, 1780-1860. Vol. 154. Macmillan, 1983.
● Adams, David Wallace. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School
Experience, 1875–1928. Revised and Expanded. University Press of Kansas, 2020.
● Lomawaima, K. Tsianina, Brenda Child, and Margaret Archuleta. “Away from home: American
Indian boarding school experiences.” With Margaret Archuleta and Brenda Child. Phoenix:
Heard Museum, 2000.
● Bates, LaRee. “Remembering Our Indian School Days | The Boarding School Experience.”
Phoenix: Heard Museum, 2019.
● McGreevy, John T. “The Eliot School Rebellion”. In Catholicism and American freedom: A
history. WW Norton & Company, 2004.
● Givens, Jarvis R., and Ashley Ison. “Toward New Beginnings: A Review of Native, White, and
Black American Education Through the 19th Century.” Review of Educational Research
(2022): 00346543221105544.