Culture and Pedagogy compares primary and secondary elementary schooling in England, France, India, Russia, and the United States, addressing important questions about primary education in the 21st century. It reveals how teaching, learning, and pedagogic discourse are shaped not just by the decisions of the teacher but also by school values and organization, by local pressures, national policy, and the balance of political control, by the tensions and ambiguities of the democratic ideal, and by culture and history. Winner of the American Educational Research Association Outstanding Book Award and the Society for Educational Studies Best Book Award.