Education as Informal Experience -- Family, Religion, and Education in Colonial America -- Early Nationalism and Education -- The Early Years of Formalized Schooling -- The Common-School Era -- The Little Red One-Room Schoolhouse -- Education in the Gilded Age -- The Emergence of the Modern American Public School -- The Progressive Education Movement -- Universal and Equal Schooling? -- Schooling, Ideology, and National Policy -- The Continuing Struggle for the Public School Ideal and Future Challenges -- Civil Rights and Public Schooling -- School Reform and Public Reaction.