The Goslings: A Study of the American Schools

"The Goslings: A Study of the American Schools" by Upton Sinclair is a sharp critique of American schools in the early 1900s. The book exposes the hidden control that businesses and politicians had over education, especially in Southern California. Sinclair argues that schools were run to help a powerful few, not the students. He begins by showing how Southern California was full of corruption, with a group called the "Black Hand" secretly running things. By showing the harbor strike, Sinclair links the problems of workers to the problems of teachers and kids in schools and how this affects what kids learn and calls out the hidden forces shaping young minds.