Writing American subjects

Amy A. Zenger

"The study argues that the movement to establish English as a subject in schools and universities was motivated by a desire to privilege values thought to be associated with the Anglo Saxon people and their descendants.... Secondly, the study argues that the education goal of 'cultivation' became racialized in the American context.... Finally, the study argues that racialized concepts of liberty that understood the love of freedom as a national characteristic of the English, or considered conditions of freedom to apply only to some portions of society influenced the design of the elective curriculum, and fostered a new, more independent model of authority in the classroom."--P. x.