Education : The United States

Education in America is one of the most important issues that face our nation. If the education in America is not thought of one of most serious issues we face, our nation as a whole will fall. There are many debates and they seemly extend to all walks of life. The debates range from the decline in education, school vouchers, and the no child left behind law. As a nation, the United States is ranked above others. We must search for that solution to all of the pro’s and con’s in education. The solution should allow all walks of life to excel in the education realm. After all, the children of today will be the leaders of tomorrow.

Education plays important role in society. It determines the final development of an adult’s personality. In today’s society most jobs require a University degree. To receive a University degree students need to rely on a good education system. Does America provide this? The American education system has relied on the grade point average system for a long time. The problem with this is there is not a universal GPA grade point system varying from course to course. This creates an inaccurate way to determine ones overall achievements. Teachers have different standards than others, grade inflation can occur and students can be exposed to different learning environments. Does the education system need to change to create fairness?

Early national period, permits monitorial schools, religious organization, and free school societies to fill the space before state systems came about. Laws were given for a vast amount of sovereignty to be delegated to local school boards while financial support largely depended on local property tax (Pulliam & Van, 2013). With these conditions, it was normal for districts authorities to maintain power and more control by the state. Pulliam & Van (2013) stated back in the early national period, Henry Bernard and Horace Mann constructed their personal state school system without seizing the policy making power of boards of education. During the World War II, the customs of local autonomy have caused conflict with state legislatures. Currently, state governments and departments of education have a more vigorous role in teachers’ certification, creating lists of appropriate course materials and even directing the curriculum (Pulliam & Van, 2013). Multiple states

Horace Mann was one of the most influential reformers in the history of American education. He was responsible for the Common School Movement, which was to ensure that every child receive free basic education funded by local taxes. Growing up in poverty where there was lack of access to education, the first secretary of Massachusetts Board of Education strongly believed that tuition- free education would be the “great equalizer,” and the key to fight against poverty and crime. As a result, Massachusetts’ residents were the

In the farming society of the early 1800’s, education was not possible for many children. Horace Mann, a farm boy himself and an early advocate for educational reform, saw the deficiencies in the educational system. He pushed for “common schools” that would retain local control, be co-educational and revolve around the agricultural year. Mann’s ideas began to be adopted around the country in the second half of the nineteenth century. By the start of the twentieth century, mandatory public schooling was the norm. This was the height of the industrial revolution. As Davidson notes in “Project Classroom Makeover”, “Public Education was seen as the most efficient way to train potential workers for labor in the newly urbanized factories (197).” Schools began to work like an assembly line with a focus on efficiency, attention to detail, memorization of facts and staying on task. Curriculum became standardized and states began to replace the local management of education. Critically thinking outside the box was less valued. Regardless of ability, children started school at the same age and were moved through their education in a regulated process.

While the 1800’s were full of groundbreaking inventions it is also home to many changes in quality of life and living, including the educational reform, the prison reform and the abolition movement. In the early 1800s getting an education was not a priority or option for most children. While it was often class based and varied between the north and south. Most children attended little to no school and the education they did receive was provided by unqualified teachers who received little pay. The education reform directed by Horace Mann helped bring about state sponsored public education, with curriculum and local property tax to finance education. Horace Mann believed that “popular schooling could be transformed into a powerful instrument for social unity.” (https://www.mackinac.org/2035) The organizarional model Mann and others adopted for massachusetts was the Prussian educational system. Allowing for the state to control education from lower grades up to the university level. Along with the state supervising the training of the teachers, children were

During Mann’s twelve years as secretary of the Massachusetts board of education he sent back reports to the board as to the condition of schools and what he thought should be taught in them. His ideas in these reports revolved around six ideas: “(1) that a republic cannot long remain ignorant and free, hence the necessity of universal education; (2) that such education must be paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public; (3) that such education is best provided in schools embracing children of all religious, social, and ethnic backgrounds; (4) that such education, while profoundly moral in character, must be free of sectarian religious influence; (5) that such education must be permeated throughout by the spirit, methods, and discipline of a free society, which preclude pedagogy in the classroom; and (6) that such education can be provided only by well-trained, professional

Mann served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1827–1833 and the Massachusetts Senate from 1834–1837. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1848 after serving as secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education. He is often called “the father of American public education”. Horace Mann, American educational reformer: Horace Mann was an influential reformer of education, responsible for the introduction of common schools—non-sectarian public schools open to children of all backgrounds—in America. Mann advocated a statewide curriculum and instituted school financing through local property taxes. Mann also fought protracted battles against the Calvinist influence on discipline, preferring positive reinforcement to physical

Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in American History once said, “Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society.” (1) Since it’s birth, our great nation has undergone positive change that shapes the world we live in today, and we have public education to thank for that. Many progressive movements began with our children and their educational rights, before branching out to the rest of America’s citizens. This can be seen throughout each century. During the 1700's, education was finally brought to the forefront of American states, creating a basic guideline of what every American should know and giving them a space to learn.

Horace Mann, is often referred to the Father of the Common School, he began his career as a lawyer and legislator. He was elected as Secretary of a new Massachusetts Board of Education in 1837. He used his power to create an educational reform. He believed that every child could receive a basic education funded by local taxes. Soon his influence spread beyond Massachusetts, more and more states began to take up the idea of universal schooling. Mann was influential in the development of teacher training schools and the earliest attempts to professionalize teaching.

The first American schools in the thirteen original colonies opened in the 17th century. Boston Latin School was one of the first public schools to open in America. Boston Latin School was established on April 23, 1635 in Boston, Massachusetts. The first tax-supported public school was opened in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1644 and was run by Rev. Ralph Wheelock (Monaghan, E., 2005). Without buildings dedicated for teaching, communities had to organize financing for the construction of school houses, funding teachers’ salaries, and getting parents to agree to let their children spend the day in a schoolroom instead of helping at home. This last condition was sometimes impossible for poorer families, who needed their children’s help to survive. As a result, families often chose to become their own center of education. So if a child was to learn to read, write, or calculate,

One major problem reformers attempted to address was education. Before the time of public schools, the main education was in the home, where the mother would embody her duty of republican motherhood, and teach their kids civil virtue: the ability to grow up and contribute to the nation. Eventually public schools were founded as the role of women in society changed, however at the time of the movement, the public school system was abysmal. Children from age three to fourteen would all be educated in one room, by one teacher who was often terribly under qualified. An excerpt written by Abraham Lincoln on his childhood explains how the only requirements for a job as a teacher was to be able to read and write (Document A). This ineffective system of education was to be extensively reformed by the secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, a man who would go on to be celebrated as the “Father of

Although education has existed since before ancient times, the United States first presented the idea of a free public school system after the American Revolution. In the late 1700s, the first American schools were established in the original thirteen colonies. Later in the 1800 century, African Americans began to have rights for attending public education with some strong boundaries. In Texas, the first law in 1840 established each county to put aside 17,000 acres of land for the construction of public school buildings. Five years later, the Texas constitution later granted one-tenth of the annual state tax to be funded towards public education funds and was later on amended again for a high amount. The purpose of education has always been the same from the day of its existence, but many factors and traditions of education in general has changed drastically over the past millennium.

This paper reviews four important trends in our educational system today across America and discusses the impact of these trends on our future educational system. We live in an ever evolving world with constant changes that are affecting every aspect of our lives daily. Our educational system has not been immune to these changes and shouldn’t be since these changes and our ability to adapt to these changes will determine our future academic success and our place in a global society.

Before the beginning of American public schools in the mid-19th century, home schooling was the norm. Founding father John Adams encouraged his spouse to educate their children while he was on diplomatic missions (Clark, 1994). By the 1840's instruction books for the home were becoming popular in the United States and Britain. The difficulty of traveling to the system of community schools was provoking detractors. At this time, most of the country began moving toward public schools (Clark, 1994). One of the first things early pioneers did was set aside a plot of land to build a school house and try to recruit the most educated resident to be the schoolmarm. This led to recruiting of graduates Eastern