Department of History - Carnegie Mellon University

Faculty

Steven Schlossman

Rank: Professor of History
Ph.D.: Columbia University, 1976
Department Member Since: 1988

Steven Schlossman is a social and policy historian who specializes in a variety of topics in 19^th and 20^th century U.S. history, including education, childhood, and parenting; juvenile and criminal justice and corrections; the politics of military recruitment; and the history of sports (especially golf).

His current research in education centers on the history of homework as a divisive problem in American schooling between the 1820s and the present. In the field of criminal justice, his current research focuses on the evolution of juvenile courts and of patterns of delinquency in the first half of the 20th century. On military recruitment, his current work analyzes policy controversies surrounding the draft, the all-volunteer army, and the experiences of gays, blacks, and women in the armed services. And in the history of sports, his research centers on two topics: the history of the U.S. Open championship, with special attention to the 1973 Open held at Oakmont Country Club (just east of Pittsburgh), and the history of women's amateur golf, with special attention to the history of the Curtis Cup (a biennial competition between top women amateurs of the U.S. and Great Britain).

Before coming to Carnegie Mellon, Schlossman was on the research staffs of the RAND Corporation (Santa Monica), the California State Department of Justice, and the California State Assembly. He also taught previously at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and UCLA.

Publications

Books and Articles (selected)

Transforming Juvenile Justice: Reform Ideals and Institutional Realities, 1825-1920, Northern Illinois University Press, 2005.

Foxholes and Color Lines: Desegregating the U.S. Armed Forces, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

The Beginnings of Graduate Management Education in the United States, The Graduate Management Admission Council, 1994.

“Education, Science, and the Politics of Knowledge: The American Educational Research Association, 1915-1940,” American Journal of Education, May 2008.

“Discovering Unheard Voices: Explorations in the History of Education, Childhood, and Juvenile Justice,” in Clifton Conrad and Ron Serlin, eds. The SAGE Handbook for Research in Education: Engaging Ideas and Enriching Inquiry, SAGE Publications, Inc., 2006.

“In the Voices of Delinquents: Social Science, The Chicago Area Project, and a Children's Culture of Casual Crime and Violence,” in Emily Cahan et al., eds., Science in Service of Children: Perspectives on Education, Parenting, and Child Welfare, Teachers College Press, 2006.

“Punishing Serious Juvenile Offenders: Crime, Racial Disparity, and the Incarceration of Adolescents in Adult Prison in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Pennsylvania,” in Joan McCord, ed., Beyond Empiricism, Transaction Publishers, 2004.

“Chicago Area Project,” in James R. Grossman et al., eds., The Encyclopedia of Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2004.

“Villain or Savior? The American Discourse on Homework, 1850-2003,” Theory into Practice, Summer 2004.

“A Nation at Rest: The American Way of Homework,” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Fall 2003.

“Parents and the Politics of Homework: Some Historical Perspectives,” Teachers College Record, July 2003.

“The Lost Cause of Homework Reform,” American Journal of Education, November 2000.

“A Sin Against Childhood: Progressive Education and the Crusade against Homework, 1897-1941,” American Journal of Education, November, 1996. [Winner of Best Article of the Year Prize, History of Education Society.]

“Delinquent Children,” in David Rothman and Norval Morris, eds., The Oxford History of the Prison, Oxford University Press, 1995.

“George Leland Bach and the Rebirth of Graduate Management Education in the United States, 1945-1975,” Selections, Spring, 1995.

“Problem Girls: Some Observations on Past and Present,” in Glen Elder, John Modell, and Ross Parke, eds., Children in Time and Place, Cambridge University Press, 1993.

“Status Offenders, Criminal Offenders, and Children ‘At Risk’ in Early Twentieth-Century Juvenile Court,” in Roberta Wollons, ed., Children At Risk: Essays in Public Discourse, State University of New York Press, 1993.

Bright Hopes, Dim Realities: Vocational Innovation in American Correctional Education, The RAND Corporation, N-3454-NCRVE/UCB, March, 1992.

“Guardians of Virtue: The Juvenile Court and Female Delinquency in Early Twentieth-Century Los Angeles,” Crime and Delinquency, April 1991.

Op-Ed Articles (selected)

“What's Germane is a Soldier's Behavior,” Los Angeles Times, January 3, 2000.

“The Real Heroes of Desegregation,” Los Angeles Times, July 26, 1998.

“The Problem That Won't Go Away,” Los Angeles Times, December 28, 1997.