Tl;dr - A solid book on the pedagogical problems in K12 schools, going beyond the banal political polarization, and making the case for classical education in history. The presentation of the book leaves something to be desired, but good content for those interested in this topic. I care a lot about education, and specifically effective pedagogy. It’s clear that something is not going right in our schools. Every teacher you talk to knows it, but no one can quite figure out how to stop the dysfunction. I don’t think there is a single cause to the issues we’re seeing, but one thing is certain: if you want to fix schools — K12 and university alike — you must focus on the actual teaching that is occurring in classrooms. Everything else is superfluous without effective classrooms. In his effort to understand what has gone wrong with schools — and how we can fix them — James Traub traveled to schools across the country to report on pedagogical approaches in history education, culminating in The Cradle of Citizenship: How Schools Can Help Save Our Democracy. His central argument? Progressive pedagogy is undermining effective learning in our schools. Now, this isn’t a conservative bashing of progressives. Rather it’s a liberal honestly critiquing the current state of pedagogical practice that has taken hold of public schools. The most interesting central theme of his book was that progressive pedagogy is not the same as progressive politics per se. Neither is classical education an inherently christian or conservative approach. Of course they overlap substantially, but if we are to make effective change in schools, we need to get beyond the political framing and instead focus on the core of the problems. Traub’s book contrasts progressive and classical pedagogy. Progressive pedagogy is generally follows inquiry-based learning approaches, letting the children lead; classroom lessons focus on “driving questions” that can spur discussion; and learning skills are emphasized....