ABSTRACT
Many Americans understand schools through the lens of their own experience or through the experiences of their children. That perspective gives each of us some healthy insights. But when scholars study and teach about schooling, we generally turn to foundational disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, or history. The argument for doing so is usually not about causal derivation; it’s about understanding. That is, we do not usually contend that schooling practices are derived from such sources as philosophical ideas or movements-though to some extent they certainly are-but rather that those philosophical ideas offer us a greater understanding of what schools do.
