Examining American education by looking at schooling as a national project allows for a holistic approach that explains, better than others, the schooling phenomena. This approach allows the contextualization of schooling in America rather than trying to understand it as a conglomeration of isolated local events. Also, this analytical framework discovers the role schooling as an institution plays in the process of social, political, and economic development while revealing the prominent social values that shape education in the United States and abroad.