Public Spaces, Politics, and Policy: Historical Entanglements with Irrational Momentism
By (Author) Morna McDermott McNulty
Edited by Todd Alan Price
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Bloomsbury Academic
18th September 2025
United Kingdom
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
History of education
Philosophy and theory of education
Hardback
304
Width 152mm, Height 229mm
This books takes a deep dive into the historic, sociopolitical, and economic interests that have resulted in a frontal assault on the very governance of public education.
Recent decades have seen dramatic changes in the landscape of American public education, including the closure of local schools, elimination of teachers unions, and local school board takeover attempts. In order to explore the social and political motivations behind these changes, the contributors address questions such as: What tactics are being used to drive this paradigm shift where teachers are the enemy, and schools are harming kids What events in this sociopolitical moment right now make it ripe for dismantling the democratic experiment of public education In an age of sound bites and instant news, how can the nuancedand sometimes hypocriticalnarrative supporting public education compete for attention with the seductive, political pablum of reactionary groups
The voices in these chapters include those of curriculum theorists, policy analysts, education practitioners and leaders, and parentsall of whom engage in forms of activism at the local and/or national level.
Todd Alan Price is Tenured Professor and Director of Curriculum, Advocacy, and Policy in the National College of Education at National Louis University, USA.
Morna McDermott McNulty is Full Professor at Towson University, USA.