Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century.

Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century. Jonathan Zimmerman (Harvard University Press).

This charming history of the missionaries, Peace Corps volunteers, and other idealists who taught in the four corners of the world over the past 100 years is billed by the author and publisher as an examination of our shifting understanding of "culture." Whereas teachers in the early parts of the 20th century journeyed overseas brimming with confidence in American mores and values, ready to foist them upon "backwards" peoples, by mid-century their heirs identified the United States as the regressive force, celebrating everything indigenous as superior. (Of course, neither view was correct.)

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For readers interested in education, though, it offers an even more delicious treat: countless scenes of progressive teachers thwarted in their efforts to export dubious ideas (antipathy to "book learning," enthusiasm for "practical" education, obsession with "learning by doing"). Zimmerman explains: "From Chile and Colombia to China and India, people pleaded with American teachers to provide instruction in academic disciplines--especially math, science, and English--rather than the vocational subjects that the teachers often favored." What a great example of what Americans stand to learn from the rest of the world.