Paul A. Gagnon (1925–2005) was an American historian and educator. He taught European history at the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...

during the 1950s, helped establish the

University of Massachusetts, Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public US-based research university. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massachusetts system. ...

in 1964, and promoted national efforts for social studies and

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reforms in the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life and education

Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Gagnon attended the High School of Commerce and then enrolled in the

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, where he served during World War II. He earned his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1950 and began teaching European history there as he continued with his graduate studies. He married in 1960, which was also the year he earned his doctorate in modern European history from Harvard University.

Career

Gagnon served as the founding Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Boston from the years 1965 to 1970. After retiring from the University of Massachusetts, Gagnon began a second phase of his career focused on education and curriculum reform. He worked closely with the

American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders. About 60 pe ...

, with whom he published ''Education for Democracy: A Statement for Principles'', which was signed by over 100 other educators and historians. He was the principal investigator with the Bradley Commission on History in Schools, which was formed by a group of prominent historians, including

Diane Ravitch Diane Silvers Ravitch (born July 1, 1938) is a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and a research professor at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Previously, she was a U.S. ...

. Funded by the

Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, commonly known as the Bradley Foundation, is an American charitable foundation based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that has been one of the most influential funders of the conservative movement. The foundation ...

, the Bradley Commission released a pamphlet in 1988, "Building a History Curriculum", which proposed a series of resolutions and a program for the study of history in K-12 American schools, and a book, ''Historical Literacy'', published in 1989 and edited by Gagnon. Gagnon was the first executive director of the

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. He served in the

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from 1991 to 1994 as Director of the Fund for the Improvement and Reform of Schools and Teaching (FIRST).

Writings and statements on history education

* ''Education for Democracy: A Statement of Principles'' (Education for Democracy Project, American Federation of Teachers, 1987) * ''Democracy's Un-Told Story: What World History Textbooks Neglect'' (Education for Democracy Project, American Federation of Teachers, 1987) * ''Democracy's Half-Told Story: What American Textbooks Should Add'' (Education for Democracy Project, American Federation of Teachers, 1989) * ''Historical Literacy: The Case for History in American Education'' (1989) * "Why Study History," ''Atlantic'' (Nov. 1989) * "What Should Children Learn?" (December 1995) * "Educating Democracy: Are We Up To It?" Occasional Paper for ''National Council for History Education'' (2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gagnon, Paul A. 1925 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American historians University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty Writers from Springfield, Massachusetts University of Massachusetts Boston faculty Historians from Massachusetts University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II