Schooling the New South - (Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies) 2nd Edition by James L Leloudis (Paperback)

About the Book

Schooling the New South: Pedagogy, Self, and Society in North Carolina, 1880-1920

Book Synopsis

Schooling the New South deftly combines social and political history, gender studies, and African American history into a story of educational reform. James Leloudis recreates North Carolina's classrooms as they existed at the turn of the century and explores the wide-ranging social and psychological implications of the transition from old-fashioned common schools to modern graded schools. He argues that this critical change in methods of instruction both reflected and guided the transformation of the American South. According to Leloudis, architects of the New South embraced the public school as an institution capable of remodeling their world according to the principles of free labor and market exchange. By altering habits of learning, they hoped to instill in students a vision of life that valued individual ambition and enterprise above the familiar relations of family, church, and community. Their efforts eventually created both a social and a pedagogical revolution, says Leloudis. Public schools became what they are today -- the primary institution responsible for the socialization of children and therefore the principal battleground for society's conflicts over race, class, and gender. Southern History/Education/North Carolina

From the Back Cover

Schooling the New South is a vivid account of the relationship between education and society during a time of sweeping social change. James Leloudis recreates North Carolina's classrooms as they existed at the turn of the century and explores the wide-ranging social and psychological implications of the transition from old-fashioned common schools to modern graded schools. He argues that this critical change in methods of instruction both reflected and guided the transformation of the American South. According to Leloudis, architects of the New South embraced the public school as an institution capable of remodeling their world according to the principles of free labor and market exchange. By altering habits of learning, they hoped to instill in students a vision of life that valued individual ambition and enterprise above the familiar relations of family, church, and community. Their efforts eventually created both a social and a pedagogical revolution, says Leloudis. Public schools became what they are today - the primary institution responsible for the socialization of children and therefore the principal battleground for society's conflicts over race, class, and gender. The book gives voice to the principal actors in this transformation - school administrators, teachers, reformers, parents, and students - whose characters and personal experiences shine through Leloudis's narrative. Based on the letters and reminiscences of parents, teachers, and students; on novels; and on more traditional documentary sources, Schooling the New South deftly combines social and political history, gender studies, and African American history into a story of educational reform.

Review Quotes

ÝP¨articularly effective in showing how the middle class used education as a means to establish a new social arrangement.

"Educational Studies"

A fascinating history of the intellectual development, ambitions, and efforts of a group of educational reformers.

"Australasian Journal of American Studies"

"A fascinating history of the intellectual development, ambitions, and efforts of a group of educational reformers.

"Australasian Journal of American Studies""

[P]articularly effective in showing how the middle class used education as a means to establish a new social arrangement.

"Educational Studies"

An exemplary piece of scholarship.

"Journal of Southern History"

Essential reading for students of the historical role of schools in American society.

"American Historical Review"

This valuable piece of scholarship proves that reform is a never-ending cycle.

"The Historian"