Raised to Obey: The Rise and Spread of Mass Education

Group Submission Type: Book Launch

Description of Session

Join us to hear about a book that "will forever change thinking about education" (William Easterly). Author Agustina S. Paglayan (UCSD) will present, followed by a discussion with Francisco O. Ramirez (Stanford University), Karen Mundy (University of Toronto), and Patricia Bromley (Stanford University).

Nearly every country today has universal primary education. But why did governments in the West decide to provide education to all children in the first place? In Raised to Obey, Agustina Paglayan offers an unsettling answer. The introduction of broadly accessible primary education was not mainly a response to industrialization, or fueled by democratic ideals, or even aimed at eradicating illiteracy or improving skills. It was motivated instead by elites’ fear of the masses—and the desire to turn the “savage,” “unruly,” and “morally flawed” children of the lower classes into well-behaved future citizens who would obey the state and its laws. Drawing on unparalleled evidence from two centuries of education provision in Europe and the Americas, this sweeping book shows that governments invested in primary schools when internal threats heightened political elites’ anxiety around mass violence and the breakdown of social order.

The objective of disciplining children remains at the core of how most public schools operate today. The future of education systems—and their ability to reduce poverty and inequality—hinges on our ability to understand and come to terms with this troubling history.

Sub Unit

• Book launches and Workshops / Book Launch

Chair

• Patricia Bromley, Stanford University

Book Launch Presenter

• Agustina Paglayan, UCSD

Discussants

• Karen Mundy, University of Toronto

• Francisco O Ramirez, Stanford University