“The State’s First Duty”: Public Education and the Liberal Conundrum in American Educational Reports from Germany

A network of German influences has been leaving a clear watermark on American education from the early Colonial era, revealing an underlying cultural exchange that was deeply influential on the development of US institutions. The transatlantic dialogue was indeed to become more and more intense after the birth of the nation. The “Common school” era started to include the Prussian school system in the framework of references and inspirations for the establishment of public educational institutions in several States and territories, mostly relying on reports based on direct observations of the “reality” of Prussian schooling. The German-American dialogue posits a series of questions: how was the heritage of the Founding Fathers reflected in the political orientation of the reports? In which terms was the fundamental contrast between the cornerstone of liberalism in education and the principle of state-driven public education acknowledged and debated? How much did the reports from Germany significantly challenge the paradoxes and inner contradictions in liberalism itself (especially on nation-building issues)? This chapter addresses these questions and formulates tentative answers on the basis of the very reports, spanning from the 1830s (Bache) to the 1890s (Parsons).