Article 6: The Cardinal Principles: Mapping Liberal Education and the American High School

In The Living Arts: Comparative and Historical Reflections on Liberal Education, Sheldon Rothblatt begins with the claim that secondary education

Rothblatt, professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Berkeley, does not develop this point further, nor cite historians of the American high school to support his claim. As a cultural and university historian focusing on Europe and the United States, Rothblatt is more interested in understanding the multiple bearings of liberal arts education as it has developed across the ages. The American high school, from its origins in the nineteenth century to the contemporary period, represents only a fraction of the educational terrain that Rothblatt surveys. While commentary on the purposes and effectiveness of secondary schooling in the United States has been rich and varied, the task of plotting U.S. high schools against Rothblatt’s academic map for liberal education remains (Angus and Mirel 1999; Bestor 1953; Callahan 1962; Conant 1959; Graves 1998; Kliebard 2002, 1999,1989; Krug 1972, 1969; Ravitch 2000). Such a study may prove more enlightening for audiences who approach the subject from general discussions on the liberal arts but it promises to enhance our understanding of the historical development of secondary schooling in the United States, as well.¹