Public Education In The 19th Century

Education plus God equals success. While this statement is true, the job of incorporating the truth about God into everything taught is becoming increasingly more difficult. Schultz charted public education’s view of reality, truth and value throughout the history of the United States to show how an unbiblical worldview has increasingly taken hold of society, the educational system and

Toward the latter part of the 19th century, bustling America, in response to the trends of industrialization and urbanization that characterized its Gilded Age, began its new century by entering into a new historical/political epoch that came to be known as the Progressive Era. This distinctive period in history (spanning from the 1890s through 1920) found progressives seeking to use the American federal government as a means of change through social, political, and economic reforms. Politically, the passage of the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th amendments are evidence of the success of progressive reformers, despite the fact that some of the new laws failed to create desired social changes. The efforts of the progressives were mainly effective when it came to social reforms related to worker’s rights and child labor, but less productive in attaining improved civil rights for African-American citizens. In addition, the government was, to a large extent, successful in the establishment of economic reforms to aid the working class, such as those enforced by Woodrow Wilson’s “Triple Wall of Privilege”; however, President Roosevelt’s famous anti-trust efforts were ultimately not far-reaching enough at the time to eliminate all problematic corporate monopolies and related corruption.

The Progressive Era was social activism and political reform between the 1890s and 1920s. The reformers of the Progressive Era tried to help the corrupt government, improve the not so great economic state for lower and middle class and immigrants, and invoke social change. The reformers were also very effective of making the problems of the 19th century known in America. Media development and some innovation did an excellent job of bolding all the corruption in the government and scandals of public health. Margaret Sanger and Alice Paul were very important reformers during the 19th century. With their help, immigrants and the lower classes were freed of the corruption and forced poverty placed upon them by business and government. These reformers were very successful in dealing with the problems at the turn of the century and really beyond,

Social class systems in the nineteenth century were comprised of the upper class, the middle class, the working class, and the underclass. The different social classes can be “distinguished by inequalities in such areas as power, authority, wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life-span, education, religion, and culture” (Cody). The poor, also known as peasants, were usually mistreated and segregated from the wealthy, or those of higher class. During his time, Charles Dickens “seen as a champion of “the poor” by some of the poor themselves” (“What was”). It is said that one of his greatest achievements “was to bring the problem of poverty to the attention of his readers through introducing varieties of poor persons into almost all of his novels, and showing the “deserving” majority of the poor, bravely struggling against the forces arrayed against them” (“What was”). This is clearly evident in A Tale of Two Cities. During the nineteenth century Victorian era, social class systems were a common excuse for the division and mistreatment of many individuals, as evidenced in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.

There was much change coming to the United States of America. Towns were booming with population and technology was reaching new heights. There were many that could not farm or produce agriculture anymore due to the poor soil. Women were not being educated, but were expected to make money. Many women were leaving the rural areas to go to the urban areas to work in the textile mills. Thousands were going to Lowell, Massachusetts, which was the epicenter for mills during the 1820s to the 1860s.

One of the many changes in the Age of Reform was the reformation of public education. The first schools were built for religious purposes, but during this reformation period, the reformers wanted better schools to make sure that the future voters would be informed. Also, these schools would help immigrants become part of the culture of American society. Massachusetts was the first state to set up public schools, schools paid by taxes, and this was also the first state to have compulsory education. This is where children had to go to school until a certain age. Reformers like Horace Mann changed many aspects to the schools in Massachusetts. He created colleges to train teachers, raised the salaries of the teachers, and he lengthened the school

During the latter portion of the 19th Century, educational reform became a battle of power and dominance for the United States, but more so, when Russia became the first country to launch a satellite into space. Following the launch of Sputnik I satellite in 1957, by the Soviet Union, the structure of education changed rapidly, heralding a new political, military and technological race towards educational competition and dominance. Fearing it power slipping away in global circles, the United States aggressively debated and proposed changes to its education system and academic curriculum. Proponents argued, ... the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very

In the18th Century formal schooling was not commonly available, education was important to early American colonists. “Quickly realizing that simply teaching children to read and write at home and in church was insufficient, colonists began to establish public schools in the early 1600s, with the founding of the Boston Latin School in 1635.” (American Public Education: An Origin Story) around the time of American Revolution, other colonies, one like Georgia, were partially financing public grammar schools. “The first

Early Americans were stubborn; they always wanted to have things their way. Each Early American had confidence in their religion. Then again, religion and standing up in what we believe in today seems to be a theme of life in general. The early settlers in fact decided to come to America just for their freedom to believe in whatever they believed in. They also need an education, but once you find out what the people believe in and stand for. Education and knowledge, of the belief seems to wrap it's way right into it. How can the average person, or Early Americans even develop beliefs without an education? Knowledge is a gift and is important throughout the whole world's history to even begin religious beliefs. Even in "The Crucible." they

"The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself." Ralph Waldo Emerson offered that observation in 1837, but his words echo with painful prescience in today 's very different United States. Americans are in serious intellectual trouble -- in danger of losing our hard-won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations.

he eighteenth century focused all health promotion and disease control on shipping ports and passengers (Williams & Torrens, 2008). All ships would be inspected while passengers were quarantined until they healed or died. The public's health was limited to the cities with shipping ports.

In the year 1511, theologian and humanist Desiderius Erasmus wrote about schools and learning. In this he told about being able to read in prose and verse as well as studying the past.(doc 3). From his perspective he believed it was important to learn from such as the Greeks and Romans and gather the past. As a theologian it would make sense for him to think these things. As it turned out lots of features in that society were derived from Greeks and Romans and some of them religious. If you think about it the whole concept of the Bible is based on the past. A while later in 1622 John Brinsley who was a schoolmaster wrote about learning as well. But in his piece spoke out about how school weren't teaching the right things.(doc 6). The students weren't learning any context they just knew some Latin that wouldn't do them anything. In the end, the purpose of schools were to teach kids more about the current world and less about the past.

As a result, literacy rates throughout Europe spiked. Through reading, people kindled a growing awareness of cultural and political trends on the continent. “As it enabled the fast flow of information and encouraged the spread of new ideas, it was also a huge driving force behind the spread of Protestantism across Europe” ("The Impact of the Printing Press", 1)

During the turn of twentieth century the public education system had no, or very few, school programs for low performing students. Over the years, education as we know it has been influenced by a number of different factors. Some of those factors are the evolving of federal laws, the civil rights movement, the changing of the social spectrum, political beliefs, and the increase number of immigrants into the United States. These factors coupled with students that are below grade level, on grade level, above grade level, and those that have a wide range of skills and abilities make it very difficult for one teacher to be completely effective in teaching multiple skills in the classroom.

The first half of the 19th century was a time of sweeping changes. With transportation, and factories increasing, North America was in for a major upgrade. While all of those things are going on, the two regions that made up the growing nation was the North and South. These two sides were very different in their approach of lifestyle which would soon lead to conflicts. Two issues stood out more than others as the North and South headed towards civil war. One reason increase of tariffs and taxes the Congress placed on the south to ship goods to other countries. The other was the idea of keeping slavery in the country. The tariffs placed economic inequality between the northern states and the southern states.