This book helps aspiring teachers interpret the craft of teaching within the historical, philosophical, cultural, and social contexts of education, inside and outside of schools. Through these carefully curated readings, students will grasp the complexity and connection between contemporary issues in education.

Susan F. Semel is a professor at City College of New York in the School of Education and at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Molly Vollman Makris is Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of Urban Studies at Guttman Community College, CUNY.

Cara Kronen is Associate Professor in the Teacher Education Department at Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY.

Introduction - Susan F. Semel with Molly Vollman Makris, and Cara Kronen; Part I: In The Quest for Equity: Foundations of Education; The History of Education; 1. A Long Shadow: The American Pursuit of Political Justice and Education Equality - James D. Anderson; 2. The Progressive Movement in American Education: A Perspective - Lawrence A. Cremin; The Politics of Education; 3. What "Counts" as Educational Policy? Notes Toward a New Paradigm - Jean Anyon; 4. Toward a Politics of Disability: Definitions, Disciplines, and Policies - Harlan Hahn; The Sociology of Education; 5. Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification - Randall Collins; 6. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life - Annette Lareau; The Philosophy of Education; 7. Experience and Education - John Dewey; 8. Wide-Awakeness and the Moral Life - Maxine Greene; Part II: In The Quest for Equity: New Directions; 9. Toward a Critical Race Theory of Education - Gloria Ladson-Billings and William F. Tate IV; 10. Re-Imagining Multicultural Education: New Visions, New Possibilities - Sonia Nieto; 11. Preventing and Producing Violence: A Critical Analysis of Responses to School Violence - Pedro A. Noguera; 12. " But I'm not Gay": What Straight Teachers Need to Know about Queer Theory - Elizabeth J. Meyer; 13. Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected - Kimberlé W. Crenshaw; 14. Additional Complexities: Social Class, Ethnicity, Generation, and Gender in Asian American Student Experiences - Stacey J. Lee; Questions for Further Discussion