The Urban History of Education

Abstract

This chapter draws on the historical literature on urban education published in English to explore how urban education has operated as an interpretive frame in the history of education. Four key themes emerge. First, cities appeared chiefly as context for the development of schooling; how schools interacted with the city or even shaped the city received much less attention. Second, unlike other settings, the U.S. historiography of urban education has overwhelmingly emphasized the industrial city. Third, despite the strong attention to urban education, scholarly attention to education in urban contexts remains incomplete. And fourth, the idea of the city as the prime site of educational innovation has been challenged by new works that emphasize the importance of educational developments in rural settings or at national rather than local scale.