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Education in early Colonial America(1600's-1700's)
Colonial education is important because it is the very beginning of American education and it was determined by social class. Colonial education of the Upper Class consisted of boys being tutored at home and eventually college. Middle Class boys attended dame school, elementary school and grammar school. Lower Class boys had limited education, sometimes apprenticeships were available. Girls were rarely given an opportunity to attend school or be educated. Slaves were denied any education. -
Horace Mann - Universal Public Schooling
Horace Mann(1796-1859) was an educational reformer from Massachusetts. He is important because he was the first advocate for free and universal education for all people. Mann was poor, but with perseverance, he was admitted to Brown University in Rhode Island at the age of 20. In 1837 Mann began serving as secretary on Massachusetts' board of education. Mann believed that education should be paid for and controlled by the public and should embrace children from all social backgrounds. -
Booker T. Washington - instrumental in education for African Americans
Booker T. Washington(1856-1915) was born a slave and later became the most influential black educator of the late 19th and early 20th century. He attended Hampton Institute in Virginia and later Wayland Seminary in Washington, D.C. He believed strongly that education would give equality to African Americans and he created the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama in 1881. Washington encouraged graduates to return to their hometowns to help raise African American education levels. -
Brown v. Board of Education, 1954 - End of public school Segregation
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, making it one of the most influential cases in U.S. history. The plaintiffs in this case believed that black schools were inferior(inferior facilities, inferior services and inferior treatment) and that segregated schools could not be made equal, and in 1954 the Supreme Court agreed that African American students were being denied equal protection under the law. -
Special Education(IDEA0 in Public Education
In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was formed. In 1990, the name was changed to IDEA(Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) by the United States Congress. IDEA is extremely important because it provides children with disabilities equal education in public schools as those students without a disability. Some elements in IDEA are providing a student with an Individualized Education Program, Free and Appropriate Public Education and Least Restrictive Environment.
