5930f412 edf8 4cae 8513 e8f794dfec2c

History of Education

  • First public school opened

    The very first public school is opened.
  • first press is established at Harvard

    America's first press is set up at Harvard College. This allowed for the publication of written materials, such as a Psalm book and the Bible.
  • Massachusetts Law of 1642 passed

    This law required that parents and masters see to it that their children know the principles of religion and the capital laws of the commonwealth (). Parents in the colonies were now required by law to educate their children, on both religion and the laws of Puritan society.
  • Old Deluder Act passed

    This law required the hiring of a schoolmaster in each town that had at least 50 residents. This established formal schooling for the children of the colony.
  • The first New England primer is printed in Boston.

    It becomes "the most widely-used schoolbook in New England"
  • Yale founded

    Yale was an university established by English clergymen to continue the tradition of European liberal education in the New World.
  • First public library opened

    Before this time, people had very limited access to books and they were rare and expensive. Benjamin Franklin, along with a philosophical group, the Junto, opened the first public library
  • 1st great awakening happened

    The Great Awakening was a very pivotal event in religious history in the colonies, but it also affected the educational systems. It introduced many new ideas. Cirriculum was largely based on religious views, therefore when many of these views were being introduced to new ideas, some schools started to face challenges.
  • Princeton founded

    College of New Jersey (Princeton) was home of Nassau Hall, where in the Spring and Fall of 1783, meeetings of the Continental Congress were held. This is important because a place had come for the settler's to communicate their ideas and for the leaders to make
  • Franklin academy Founded

    Benjamin Franklin established a new kind of secondary school called the academy. It eventually replaced Latin grammar schools and offered a variety of subjects, ranging from science and mathematics to athletics, navigation, and bookeeping. The Franklin Academy was open to both boys and girls which was somewhat rare after America's Declaration of Independence
  • The Three Character Classic

    which is an embodiment of Confucian thought suitable for teaching to young children, served as a child's first formal education at home. The text is written in triplets of characters for easy memorization.
  • British and Foreign School Society

    founded by liberal Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Jews as an alternative to the National Society.
  • Common school movement

    technological advances and economic policy changes began to change society’s view: children should be educated, rather than work. This allowed emphasis to be placed on the exclusive education of children during their childhood in America. A prominent system that stemmed from this new attitude was the “common school” movement.
  • The Elementary Education Act

    commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between ages 5 and 12 in England and Wales.
  • East Europe began to provide elementary education

    East Europe began to provide elementary education in reading, writing, and arithmetic, partly because politicians believed that education was needed for orderly political behavior.
  • Cheney University of Pensilvania is founded

    this was the first college for African-Americans.
  • First Board of Education in the U.S established

    established in Massachusetts with Horace Mann as its secretary.
  • The first Normal school established

    The first Normal school, for the education and training of teachers, established in Lexington, Massachusetts.
  • Compulsory education required Massachusetts

    Compulsory education required Massachusetts becomes the first state to enact compulsory education law. Students are required to attend primary school. Fines are levied on parents who do not send their children to school.
  • Dewey decimal system Formulated

    Dewey decimal system Formulated by Melvil Dewey in 1873, the Dewey Decimal system was first published in 1876.