Early History of Education in the United States
How the foundation of a rigid system leaves us stuck in the past
The early history of public schooling in the United States dates back to the 17th century when the Puritans established schools in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to ensure that children could read and interpret the Bible. However, it wasn't until the mid-19th century that the idea of free public education for all children became more widespread.
Horace Mann, the Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, is often credited with being the father of the American public school system. In the 1830s and 1840s, Mann campaigned for a publicly funded and supervised system of schools that would provide all children with access to education. His vision was that education would promote social stability and economic progress by creating an educated and skilled workforce. It had little to do with the wellbeing of children.
Mann's ideas were widely adopted across the country, and by the 1860s, every state in the nation had established a system of public schools. However, the implementation of this vision was not without its challenges. Many people opposed the idea of public schools, arguing that it was not the government's responsibility to provide education, and others believed that public schools would be a threat to religious and moral values. This is an argument that continues to this day and the ideological differences within the country have been played out in the lives of children. Another issue directly impacting our children was and continues to be funding. Public schools have always been primarily funded by local property taxes, which means that wealthier communities have more resources to invest in education than poorer ones. This has led to significant disparities in educational quality and access, and guaranteed a less educated and therefore lower paid working class to justify and ensure a source of cheap labor to help sustain corporate success and profitability.
Despite the challenges, public schooling became an important part of American life, and by the end of the 19th century, public schools had become a symbol of American democracy and progress. While the system was far from perfect, public education had begun to fulfill its promise of providing children with access to education and the opportunity for social mobility. The interpretation, however, of how schools should operate and what should be taught has always been a political punching bag, with those within the profession advocating for a more child centered approach, and government and business leaders pushing for basic content with data and accountability, their primary focus being a compliant workforce and a docile population. As we will see in a future chapter the continuing influence of business interests on education policy is evident in today’s charter school movement.
Between 1900 and 1923 a half a million to a million immigrants a year landed on the shores of America, bringing a huge influx of children. Assimilation was the goal of the government. Embracing a variety of different cultures and languages within this society was unheard of. In the early 1900s 85% of children chose to work rather than go to school. School was rigid, and cold, sitting for hours at a time listening to the teacher. It was not until 1938 that a federal law banning child labor was passed and all children were required to attend school until the age of 16.
The intent at the time was to expect schools to shape character and prepare children to live in a predetermined society. The shape of that society was fixed and never expected to grow and be molded by those who entered it, thus society was molding children to fit rather than asking them to find their place. Moving away from a community model to a centralized model began a vast empire of bureaucracy and text book profit making. It was no longer the village that raised the child, it was now the government and business leaders.
Public Schooling became the front line in the struggle for equal rights, civil rights and the power to determine what constitutes a good education. The interests of business and government leaders conflicted with the interests of intellectuals who created a variety of models of schooling and curricula and parents and teachers who cared deeply about the wellbeing of children. And in the last hundred years the publishing and educational software industries have had an excessive influence on education by determining the content delivery in every area of learning. Meanwhile teachers, the dedicated servants who care deeply about the intellectual and emotional fulfillment of children, are left out of the picture, and expected to follow rules established by leaders who know little to nothing about being on the front lines of teaching in a classroom. Need I mention that teaching is a largely female profession and has always ranked low in the hierarchy of work. In fact the struggle for recognition of the worth of the profession and for pay equity has always been and continues to be an issue in every town, city and municipality in the country.
It is this writer’s opinion that our early history has paved the way to a system that is stuck in the past and fails to yield to evolving with the changing times and changing needs. It is the system that has failed and not the profession. Now there is an urgency to overcome our fear of change if we ever hope to alter the course of our history. The system must change. We can’t keep doing the same things and expect a different result. It just hasn’t worked.
