Book Review: a History of Education in Kentucky Robert Detmering University of Louisville, [email protected]
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The Southeastern Librarian Volume 59 | Issue 3 Article 9 Fall 2011 Book Review: A History of Education in Kentucky Robert Detmering University of Louisville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/seln Recommended Citation Detmering, Robert (2011) "Book Review: A History of Education in Kentucky," The Southeastern Librarian: Vol. 59 : Iss. 3 , Article 9. Available at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/seln/vol59/iss3/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Southeastern Librarian by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. narrative primarily highlights the barriers to progress that inevitably arise in a culture that does not consistently value or prioritize education for all citizens. Perhaps the greatest strength of the book is the manner in which Ellis directly addresses Kentucky’s pernicious legacy of elitism and racism, which has often hindered attempts to make quality education more accessible to African Americans and other marginalized groups throughout the state. Ellis clearly demonstrates the negative impact of segregation and other problematic policies, Ellis, William E. A History of Education in offering precise descriptions of legislative Kentucky. Lexington, KY: University Press battles and explaining the consequences for of Kentucky, 2011. ISBN 978-0-8131-2977- Kentucky students and teachers. At the same 8. $40.00. time, the personal is never far from the political in Ellis’s narrative; the author In the preface to the immense and richly draws on numerous first-person accounts detailed A History of Education in Kentucky, that reveal the harsh realities of legal and William Ellis suggests that “The Struggle cultural inequality in the educational system, for Equity and Equality” might have been a such as Lyman Johnson’s disturbing proper subtitle for his book (p. ix). Indeed, memory of seeing burning crosses in “struggle” is the central theme of this Lexington during the summer of 1949, when survey, which frames Kentucky educational he became one of the first African history from the late eighteenth century to Americans to attend the University of the present within larger social and political Kentucky. In the later chapters, Ellis also conflicts. Providing comprehensive incorporates his own experiences as a coverage of both public and private Kentucky resident and educator, including a schooling at the primary, secondary, and powerful story about his players facing postsecondary levels, Ellis emphasizes the discrimination during his stint as the white frustrating cycle of “reform followed by coach of Harrodsburg High School’s regression” that has defined education in integrated football team in the early 1960s. Kentucky from the very beginning (p. 271). Whether clashing over the desegregation of This is not to say, however, that Ellis only schools, debating the merits of teaching focuses on race relations. Simply put, the evolution, or bickering about proper scope of this ambitious work, which methods of funding, Kentuckians always includes more than sixty pages of endnotes, seem to find themselves mired in is vast. Ellis covers almost every controversy, unable to keep pace with conceivable topic related to teaching and national standards. While Ellis discusses a learning in Kentucky classrooms, from number of efforts that have gradually issues of class and gender to concerns over expanded and improved educational religious education and student conduct to opportunities in the state over time, difficulties associated with the Civil War including the development of the Minimum and other national conflicts. Ellis also finds Foundation Program in the 1950s, his Volume 59, No. 3, Fall 2011 28 time to profile prominent figures in facts, and statistics, Ellis provides crucial Kentucky educational history, including insight into the relationship between reformers such as Horace Holley and Robert education and society, a relationship often Breckinridge. Moreover, noting their “vital fraught with tensions and contradictions. function in educating Kentuckians,” the The only quibble that some readers might author even spotlights the significant have with A History of Education in achievements of libraries, particularly the Kentucky is that, at times, the amount of Carnegie libraries constructed at the detail can be exhausting, threatening to University of Kentucky, Centre College, and overwhelm the text with information and other institutions in the early twentieth making it difficult to read the book for an century (p. 223). Ellis concludes the book by extended period. At the very least, Ellis outlining current educational challenges in should have included section divisions the state, many of which pertain to within the lengthy chapters (some lasting assessment and accountability in the era of more than fifty pages) to help the reader No Child Left Behind, as well as the navigate the content and avoid information seemingly endless struggle for adequate overload. Nevertheless, for scholars, funding at all levels of the system. In students, and other readers interested in pinpointing these problems, A History of educational history, this book serves as a Education in Kentucky functions not only as major contribution to the field and a history but also as advocacy, with Ellis welcome voice for progress. As Ellis’s book rightly indicating that persistent educational confirms, our ability to improve education disparities cannot be corrected without surely depends on our willingness to ongoing support in time, attention, and struggle, to continue the fight for positive dollars. change. Despite its regional emphasis, this book is Robert Detmering an essential purchase for any library Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville supporting an education program. In addition to an abundance of important dates, 29 The Southeastern Librarian .