by Eve L. Ewing
First published 2025
America's education system fails by design, not by accident. Eve L. Ewing challenges the widespread belief that schools serve as great equalizers in American society. She contends that classrooms were constructed to preserve the nation's inequalities rather than eliminate them. The founding fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, envisioned education as a tool to strengthen racial hierarchies. Schools aimed to promote white intellectual dominance while preparing Native students for cultural assimilation and Black students for low-wage work. These original purposes continue today through standardized testing, academic tracking, harsh disciplinary measures, and unequal resource distribution. Ewing traces how curricula still downplay the brutal realities of American history. She reveals that maintaining inequality remains embedded in the fundamental structure of American education. The book calls for a complete reconsideration of educational purpose and beneficiaries. Ewing transforms how readers view the institutions where children spend most of their waking hours.
Genres: american, social-issues, education, non-fiction, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: social-commentary
Setting: America
Period: 21st-century
400 pages · Hardcover · One World