Independent Reading and Sharing Education Administration

Education Administration: Independent Reading and Sharing

This paper aims to summarize the book “Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools” written by Jonathan Zimmerman. The book discusses the public school curriculum that has thoroughly included the struggles and fights of American history in justice and freedom wars rather than including other cultures, such as Jews, Italians, and Germans, etc. The immigrant groups and their endeavors, such as the civil rights movement, sought to eradicate American history’s ‘White’ version. In contrast, the textbooks and curriculum should be diversity inclusive for catering to today’s historical needs of the culturally diverse public school students (Zimmerman, 2009).

What concerns me about this book is the connection of the inclusiveness of contemporary times’ public school with the historical accounts of American history and the included content in the textbooks. The historical linkages with the racial struggles to be included are also seen in recent times despite being socially advanced and scientifically progressed. However, the globalized progress of American society has failed to eliminate the racial disparity seen in the educational system today. The book is quite relevant to the never-ending debate of diversity inclusion and the academic success of minority students in America.

The author argues that though the racial subgroups of the American populations have given their respective inputs in the said history, the passions and their debates have been presented differently affected by the opinions of each of the outsiders in public education. Even the contradiction over the school prayer and education about sex persist strongly within the American tradition and educational structure. The author exhibited various anecdotes of the history to corroborate his arguments, such as the 1925 Scopes trial and Dayton schools, the Chicago mayor’s election in 1927, and changes made in pro-British textbooks. He believes that patriotism has been molded with the help of justice and the country’s political system within the books of public schools to capture the momentous struggles of the Whites and ignore the rest of the cultures.

The theoretical framework of the books is laid in line with both multicultural as well as anti-racist education. The writer emphasizes the education today requires a multicultural approach for inclusiveness of all cultures residing in the country. In contrast, the curriculum tends to exclude and appear anti-racist, describing only the radical educational strategies put forward by the system handlers, including the book publishers and government.

The writer has adopted an interesting methodology for writing the book by dividing it into two sections: chronological accounts about the partitions that American society has made known with the help of national policy and topical emphasis on the distinction between sexuality and religion. The findings of the book reveal that regardless of the major movements carried out by minorities in American history and similar Black rebellions; little advancements were made in changing the curriculum and adding relevant freedom progressions by these minorities by not brewing the relationship with religions and highlighting sex education more in place of it.

I want to share with my professional peers that the book is a masterpiece in terms of the connections it attempts to make over the years in curriculum progressions and well-thought considerable explanations of the actions. The wonderful story of conflict and compromise of the culturism and racism have been weaved by the book’s author that should be shared for underlining the strong stress of American society on pluralism which seems to negate the effect of moral, religious totalitarianism simultaneously.