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Boston Town officials see the need to hire a "school master" to teach and nurture children. Boston Latin School opened, it was the first American public school.
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Decrees that every town with 50 families should have an elementary school. Every town of hundred families should have a Latin school.
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Thomas Jefferson proposes a two-track educational system "the laboring and the learned". Scholarships would allow a few of the laboring class to advance.
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Before the US constitution was ratified, it passed a law calling for a survey of the Northwest Territory (state of Ohio). The law created "Townships" reserving a portion of township for a local school.
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New York Public School Society formed by wealthy businessmen to provide education for poor children. These schools emphasize discipline and obedience qualities that factory owners want in their workers.
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Boston Town meeting calls for establishing a system of free public primary schools. Supported by local merchants, businessman, and wealthy artisans.
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First public high school opens in US Boston English.
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Massachusetts passes a law making all grades of public school open to all pupils free of charge.
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Most Southern states have laws to forbid teaching slaves how to read. 5% become literate at great risk.
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Massachusetts Reform School at Westboro opens, where children who have refused to attend public schools are sent. This begins a long tradition of "reform schools," which combine the education and juvenile justice systems.
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State of Massachusetts passes first its compulsory education law. The goal is to make sure that the children of poor immigrants get "civilized" and learn obedience and restraint, so they make good workers and don't contribute to social upheaval.
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Plessy v. Ferguson decision. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the state of Louisiana has the right to require "separate but equal" railroad cars for Blacks and whites. This decision means that the federal government officially recognizes segregation as legal. One result is that southern states pass laws requiring racial segregation in public schools. Homer Plessy, a mulatto 7/8 white seated himself in the whites only compartment and was challenged by the conductor and was arrested.
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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The Supreme Court unanimously agrees that segregated schools are "inherently unequal" and must be abolished. Almost 45 years later in 1998, schools, especially in the north, are as segregated as ever.
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Mary Beth Tinker 13-year-old junior high school student decided to wear a black armband. The black armband she wore was a representation of protest towards the Vietnam War. Mary was asked to remove her armband and was suspended. Four others were suspended including her brother. The courts ruled in her favor 7-2. Making it possible for students at public schools to exercise their rights of the first amendment.
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No person in the United States shall, on basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
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States cannot constitutionally deny students a free public education on account of their immigration status.