The mass production of books changed all that—and this is an aspect of education history to which too little attention has been paid. No longer was the teacher the sole source of information and the ultimate authority on a subject. Now there was an expert behind the expert, sharing in the teacher’s prestige as the source of knowledge. The teacher ruled in the classroom but the textbook had standing in the world beyond. What if the teacher and the text disagreed? The legitimizing power of print seemed to give the last word to the book. On the other hand, textbooks empowered teachers to expose
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