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The Social Construction Of The Progressive Era: A Critical-Historiographical Case Study In Vocationalism, Brian D. Carlson

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

For centuries, schooling has served as the primary precursor to jobs and careers, and ultimately the window of opportunity toward economic mobility. Vocationalism describes the economic potential of education, represented by the synthesis of educational policy, curricula, and ideology. This study contends that vocationalism has conditioned the public toward the disposition of education as a social commodity for the development of human capital. In turn, this study explores the significance of vocationalism through a critical-historiographical case study of educational reforms within Milwaukee during the Progressive Era. This study asks the question, how has ideology contributed toward the establishment of vocationalism …