What is school for? Over a hundred years ago, a man named Harold Rugg published a series of textbooks that encouraged students to confront the thorniest parts of U.S. history: to identify problems, and try and solve them. And it was just as controversial as the fights we're seeing today. In this episode: a media mogul, a textbook author, and a battle over what students should – or shouldn't – learn in school.

Guests:

Charles Dorn, the Barry N. Wish Professor of Social Studies at Bowdoin College and co-author of Patriotic Education in a Global Age.

Adam Laats, professor of education at Binghamton University and author of The Other School Reformers.

To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/throughline.