"Until we address the inequality of opportunity, a national curriculum with its common standards will tell us nothing more than we already know... Until then, the talk is diversionary and divisive." - Michael E. James

Review of The Conspiracy of the Good

"We are forever misremembering history, either through outright distortion or more commonly through simple neglect. Michael James adds a brilliant new dimension to our understanding of race, power and schooling across the so-called American century." - Jon Zimmerman, Professor of History and Education, Steinhardt School of Education, New York University

• History of schooling and civil rights

Professor James teaches courses in the Foundations of Modern Education, School and Society, and Creativity and Learning, and coordinates the Elementary Education Program. Since the department endeavors to link the preparation of future teachers with the day-to-day experiences of the classrooms in the greater New London area, the courses Professor James teaches are, to a great extent, connected to local schools. Students expect to be involved in the lives of children and young adults throughout their four year experience at the college. Often, students conduct their own research into the origins of urban public school systems, current research in classroom practice and national and international efforts to reform schooling.

James' research and writing involve the history and philosophy of schooling especially as it connects to the twentieth century and the civil rights movement. He firmly believes that education and the role teachers play in reconstructing culture are of paramount importance. His most recent book, The Conspiracy of the Good: Civil Rights and the Struggle for Community in Two American Cities, 1875-2000 is principally about the educational policy and practice that has marked the phenomenal expansion of the American school since the Civil War. (Read the news release.)

James does not see public schooling as an isolated institution — although, too often, too many parents, reformers, observers and analysts isolate public education from the larger context of American politics. He understands the history of schooling only when it is rooted in larger themes of class conflict, racial unrest, industrial development and political economy. In The Conspiracy of the Good, Professor James extends his earlier work found in Social Reconstruction Through Education: The History, Philosophy and Curricula of a Radical Ideal and is testament to his belief that schools and teachers hold the key to our future.

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