Civic Learning through Agricultural Improvement

Bringing the Loom and the Anvil into Proximity with the Plow

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Technology, Agriculture & Animal Husbandry, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology, Reference & Language, Education & Teaching
Cover of the book Civic Learning through Agricultural Improvement by Glenn P. Lauzon, Information Age Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Glenn P. Lauzon ISBN: 9781617351495
Publisher: Information Age Publishing Publication: December 1, 2010
Imprint: Information Age Publishing Language: English
Author: Glenn P. Lauzon
ISBN: 9781617351495
Publisher: Information Age Publishing
Publication: December 1, 2010
Imprint: Information Age Publishing
Language: English

How do people use education to respond to change? How do people learn what is expected of “good citizens” in their communities? These questions have long concerned educational historians, civic educators, and social scientists. In recent years, they have captured national attention through highprofile education reform proposals and civic initiatives. The historian who reviews the relevant literature, however, will discover something odd: most of it focuses on schooling, despite the fact that, prior to the middle of the twentieth century, formal schooling played only a small (but significant) part in most people’s lives. What other educational forces and institutions bring civic ideals to bear upon minds and hearts? This question is rarely raised. At issue is a conceptual problem: we, today, tend to equate “education” with “schooling.” Do county fairs and farmers’ associations have anything to do with civic education? Drawing insights from debates at the time of the “founding” of the history of education as a branch of modern scholarship, this author asserts that they do. Using the life of county fairs, farmers’ associations, and farmers’ institutes as its central thread, this book explores how prominent towndwellers and leading farmers tried to use agricultural improvement to grow towns and to shape civic sensibilities in the rural Midwest. Promoting economic development was the foremost concern, but the efforts taught farmers much about their “place” as “good citizens” of industrializing communities. As such, this study yields insights into how rural people of the nineteenth century came to accept the ideal that “town” and “country” were interdependent parts of the same community. In doing so, it reminds educators and historians that much education and learning particularly of the civic sort takes place beyond the schoolhouse.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

How do people use education to respond to change? How do people learn what is expected of “good citizens” in their communities? These questions have long concerned educational historians, civic educators, and social scientists. In recent years, they have captured national attention through highprofile education reform proposals and civic initiatives. The historian who reviews the relevant literature, however, will discover something odd: most of it focuses on schooling, despite the fact that, prior to the middle of the twentieth century, formal schooling played only a small (but significant) part in most people’s lives. What other educational forces and institutions bring civic ideals to bear upon minds and hearts? This question is rarely raised. At issue is a conceptual problem: we, today, tend to equate “education” with “schooling.” Do county fairs and farmers’ associations have anything to do with civic education? Drawing insights from debates at the time of the “founding” of the history of education as a branch of modern scholarship, this author asserts that they do. Using the life of county fairs, farmers’ associations, and farmers’ institutes as its central thread, this book explores how prominent towndwellers and leading farmers tried to use agricultural improvement to grow towns and to shape civic sensibilities in the rural Midwest. Promoting economic development was the foremost concern, but the efforts taught farmers much about their “place” as “good citizens” of industrializing communities. As such, this study yields insights into how rural people of the nineteenth century came to accept the ideal that “town” and “country” were interdependent parts of the same community. In doing so, it reminds educators and historians that much education and learning particularly of the civic sort takes place beyond the schoolhouse.

More books from Information Age Publishing

Cover of the book Fiscal Policy in Urban Education by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Transitions by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Middle Grades Research Journal Issue by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Building Support for Scholarly Practices in Mathematics Methods by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Peer Relationships and Adjustment at School by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Rethinking Language, Mind, and World Dialogically by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Defining and Redefining Gender Equity in Education by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Promising Practices for Family and Community Involvement during High School by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Adolescents in the Internet Age by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Quarterly Review of Distance Education by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Connected Minds, Emerging Cultures by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Mentoring for the Professions by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Structural Equation Modeling by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Yes We Can! by Glenn P. Lauzon
Cover of the book Searching for Authenticity by Glenn P. Lauzon
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy