History’s Johann Neem to Present ‘Why Do We Have Public Schools?’ Oct. 25 at City Hall

Johann Neem, chair and professor of History at Western Washington University, will give a talk titled “Why Do We Have Public Schools?” from 7- 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 25 in the Bellingham City Council Chambers, 210 Lottie Street. 

The free, public talk is an installment of the WWU College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Lecture Series and is co-sponsored by the City of Bellingham.

At a time when state and national policy makers are debating the future of public education, Professor Neem draws on his new book, “Democracy’s Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America,” to examine the contested visions that led Americans to develop public schools in the first place. By returning to our roots, Neem suggests that perhaps we can seek guidance about how to reform our schools for the future.

Neem, who is also a Senior Fellow of the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, examines the origins and purposes of American public education between the Revolution and the Civil War. His first book, “Creating a Nation of Joiners: Democracy and Civil Society in Early National Massachusetts,explored the development of civil society in Massachusetts after American independence. Neem is also an active contributor to the conversation on higher education reform. A supporter of a meaningful liberal arts education for all college students, Neem’s columns, essays, and talks argue that higher education reformers must always remember the higher purposes of American colleges.

Audience questions for the Oct. 25 talk will be welcomed.  The lecture will be recorded and rebroadcast on Bellingham TV Channel 10.

For more information on this lecture and for disability accommodations, please contact Kirsten Anderson at Western’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences at (360) 650-3763, or via email at kirsten.anderson@wwu.edu.

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), the university’s largest college,  includes the 13 departments of: Anthropology, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Communication Studies, English, Health and Human Development, History, Journalism, Liberal Studies, Modern and Classical Languages, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology, as well as four interdisciplinary programs: East Asian Studies, Linguistics, Multidisciplinary Studies, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies.