From Inquiry to Academic Writing A Practical Guide, 3rd edition

42 CHAPTER 2 | FRom REAding As A WRiTER To WRiTing As A REAdER

the nation. His analysis begins with the emergence of public schools in

the nineteenth century and demonstrates a sense of continuity in twenty-

first-century education, particularly in light of contemporary debates

around national standards, teacher evaluation, social justice, equity, civic

engagement, and the common good. This continuity is best represented in

the quest for a common denominator of political and moral truths, often

evidenced in textbooks that point to the progress of history and Ameri-

can democracy, the focus on great men who understood the grandeur of

America’s destiny, and the importance of individual character in building

a strong nation founded on shared values. For Tyack, history textbooks

have served as a significant source of civic education — that is, “what

adults thought children should learn about the past” — and assimilation.

However, the search for common values in official histories (what he calls

“stone monuments”) has not been without dissent, given their focus on

white, male, Protestant ideology. Tyack also writes about the ways in which

educators have dealt with questions of social and educational diversity,

particularly race, immigration and ethnicity, and gender; efforts to estab-

lish models of educational governance to meet the needs of a pluralistic

society; and the implications of opening public education to a free market.

Note that in the following passage, Tyack assesses the state of Ameri-

can history textbooks by citing a number of writers, sometimes generally

and at other times more specifically, to address ways to solve the problems

he identifies (for example, Patricia Nelson Limerick’s proposal for a “plu-

ralistic model of history”).

As you read the Tyack’s passage, take notes on the rhetorical situation,

purpose, main claim, audience, and language. You may want to underline

passages or circle words and phrases where the writer makes the following

points explicit:

•   the situation that motivates his writing,

•   the purpose of his analysis and argument,

•   his main claim or thesis, and

•   who he believes his audience is.

Whither History Textbooks?

David Tyack is the Vida Jacks Professor of Education and Professor of

History, Emeritus, at Stanford University. In addition to writing Seek-

ing Common Ground, he is the author of The One Best System: A History

of American Urban Education (1974) and coauthor of Tinkering Toward

Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform (1997), Law and the Shaping

of Public Education, 1785–1954 (1991), Learning Together: A History of

Coeducation in American Public Schools (1992), and Public Schools in Hard

Times: The Great Depression and Recent Years (1984).

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DavID TyaCk

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