Schooling the Golden State: A History of Education in California

Catalog description

This pilot course examines key moments in the history of education in California. Troubling the popular notion that California was/is a "golden state," that is, "a land of liberal tolerance, progressive politics, and picturesque cosmopolitanism," we pay particular attention to how race, religion, gender, language, citizenship, empire, and migration have shaped the educational experiences of waves of Californians from past to present in ways that were/are often deeply unjust and unequal. At the same time, we make space to center the resistance of Californians of varying backgrounds, Indigenous, Asian, Black, and Brown, teachers and students, families, and communities, who imagined otherwise and worked to make their dreams reality. Throughout, we draw connections between California's past and its present, in order to think together about how history might offer critical context for ongoing debates over schooling.