This is an essay about the historical construction of the American meritocracy, which is to say the new American aristocracy based on academic credentials. Here’s a link to the original, which was published 2020 in Bildungsgeschichte: International Journal of the Historiography of Education. It is republished in my new book, The Emergent Genius of American … Continue reading Schooling the Meritocracy: How Schools Came to Democratize Merit, Formalize Achievement, and Naturalize Privilege| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
This post is an essay by Julien Berman that was published recently in the Washington Post. Here’s a link to the original. How higher education failed America’s poor For decades, policymakers claimed to expand college access. In reality, they steered poor students into the least valuable degrees. Julien Berman The best investment you can make … Continue reading Julien Berman — How Higher Education Failed America’s Poor| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
This is a piece I published in Aeon in October, 2017. It provides an overview of my book that came out that year, A Perfect Mess: The Unlikely Ascendancy of American Higher Education. It’s a highly improbable rags-to-riches story, in which the US system of higher education went from pitiful in the 19th century to powerful in the … Continue reading Rags to Riches: How US Higher Ed Went from Pitiful to Powerful| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
For anyone who’s interested, I’m posting below an updated list of all my publications and course syllabi, including links to these works and to full course materials. Here’s a link to the list as …| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
This post is an essay of mine that is now the opening chapter of my new book, The Emergent Genius of American Higher Education. The path toward its latest iteration was long and winding. Let me count the curves along the way. This version was published in Bildungsgeschichte: International Journal for the Historiography of Education … Continue reading A System Without a Plan| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
Here are the syllabi for classes I taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Each syllabus includes links to nearly all course readings, tips for doing the reading, and class slides. As a result you can take the course, either individually and in groups. Feel free to share the syllabi with anyone you want. … Continue reading All of My Course Syllabi, Including Links to Readings, Reading Tips, and Slides| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
In this post, I introduce my new book, The Emergent Genius of American Higher Education, which is now available on Amazon. Below is the book’s introduction, which provides an overview of the issues it raises and gives summaries of the 23 chapters: Introduction This book is a collection of pieces I wrote about American … Continue reading My New Book: The Emergent Genius of American Higher Education| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
This post is a classic piece by Karl Marx, “The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret Thereof.” It’s the last section of the first chapter in Capital, volume 1. This analysis had a big impact on me when I first read it in grad school, and it has shaped a lot of my own work. At … Continue reading Marx’s “The Fetishism of Commodities” and Its Implications for Education| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
This post is a paper I presented as part of a panel on the politics of teacher education at the annual meeting of the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) in 2005. It was…| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
8 posts published by David Labaree during July 2025| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
This post is a recent column by Frank Bruni in the times, part of his series “For the Love of Sentences.” Here’s a link to the original. Enjoy. For the Love of Sentences Image Credit…Chang W. Lee/The New York Times In The Autopian, Matt Hardigree explained one carmaker’s advantage: “You don’t buy a Subaru so much as you … Continue reading Frank Bruni — For the Love of Sentences| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
This post is a very recent piece by Larry Cuban, which he posted on his blog two days ago. I just love it. He asks, What’s the problem with being an average student? How did average scho…| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
In this paper, I explore the issue of relevance in educational research. I argue that the chronic efforts by researchers to pursue relevance is counterproductive. Paradoxically, trying to make rese…| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
7 posts published by David Labaree during June 2025| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
This post is a lecture I gave at University of Luxembourg in 2011, which was published in a book, edited by Daniel Tröhler and Ragnhild Barbu, Education Systems in Historical, Cultural, and Sociol…| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
This post is an essay by Clay Shirky that was recently in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Here’s a link to the original. Here’s the case that helped him crystalize his thoughts ab…| David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing
