-
Proposal for General Education
Thomas Jefferson proposed a guarantee of three years of education with advanced education for a select few. He proposed that students would learn the foundations of education to be a citizen as well as reading and writing. This was to be paid for by tax dollars. -
Noah Webster's Dictionary
Noah Webster wrote a book that created a new national language different from British English. He believed that America needed a national history built upon legends of the founding fathers (i.e. George Washington and the cherry tree). Today we still have our history depicting American heroes and our spelling still reflects the Americanized version. http://www.webstersdictionary1828.com/NoahWebster -
Horace Mann
MOST IMPORTANT 1 First secretary of Education and he promoted public schools. Horace road horseback from district to district personally reviewing each school house. He fought for an establishment of a state board of education, that he set out to collect and publicize school information throughout the state. Schools today have legal codes and standards that is enforced to keep children well educated and safe. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Horace-Mann -
The Great School Debates
Debated that Catholic, Jewish, and Presbyterian schools should also have funding for their own schools. Bishop John Hughes led the debate against many others. Many people were against public funding for religious schools. -
Philadelphia Bible Riots
Controversy over the use of the Bible in public schools caused riots that left thirteen people dead. A Catholic Church was burned to the ground. Later, when other religions received funding for their schools, New York principals were ordered to search through text books and remove passages offensive to Catholics. They had to remove it by hand. -
American Woman Educational Association
MOST IMPORTANT 2
Catherine Beecher founded the American Woman Educational Association. Catherine promoted female teachers as a “civilizing force” in the west. Beecher founded colleges to educate women and train them to be able to teach out west. This created a profession for women. Today woman primarily are in teaching careers, but are also free to get an education in any career they would like. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/catharine-esther-beecher -
Abolishing Segregation
The Negro School Abolition Society (NSAS) took their case against segregation to the state legislature. A law was passed abolishing segregation. It was the first law like it in the nation. -
Flood of School Attendance
After the civil war 4 million Americans were now free to go to school. The motion of going to school was seen as the most valuable undertaking. -
William Wirt
New types of schools were built in Gary, Indiana. Gary schools had a split system. Wirt called his system, work, study play. It was to prepare students for work in the factories. This was one of the first schools to have hour-long classes. These schools taught kids hygiene they didn’t get at home. They were open at night and on weekends to help the communities. -
Controversy Over the Gary Plan
John Mitchell put the Gary plan into action in 30 New York schools. It produced a violent controversy. John Highland attacked the Gary plan to produce cheap labor for large corporations. The week before the mayoral elections, Riots broke out over the Gary plan. Crowds broke school windows, overturned cards, and stoned policemen. John Highland won the race by a landslide. -
Brown Vs. The Board of Education
MOST IMPORTANT 3
Originating in Topeka, Kansas, there were five cases that made their way to the Supreme Court. These cases finally launched the desegregation in public schools. This meant that all children had equal access to public education. Today public schools are integrated with all kinds of diversity. The biggest restriction is based off of housing boundaries. https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/history-brown-v-board-education-re-enactment -
No More Segregation
Chief Justice Earl Warren announced the supreme court decision that denounced segregation. The African American children had only four schools they could originally go to and now they could go to the school’s closer to home. -
Civil Rights Act
This act banned discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity in all federally funded programs—mostly schools. Signed at the Whitehouse by President Lydon B. Johnson. Schools could lose their federal funds if they didn’t abide by these rules. -
Education Choice Experiment
MOST IMPORTANT 4
Educators in East Harlem had created small, alternative public schools within existing buildings. If they had students that left their school and started going to another, that school would be threatened to be shut down so it would raise the competition. Now, schools are constantly trying to be innovative in how they teach children. Always looking for better solutions. https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/24/nyregion/choosing-schools-betters-students-in-east-harlem.html -
Children with Disabilities
MOST IMPORTANT 5
Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This act had a national mission to provide a free, appropriate public education for all children with disabilities in the least restrictive environment. Now children with disabilities are able to get public education with more time in the classroom than ever before. They receive special education plans that help fit their education needs. https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/leg/idea/history.html
