As years past, public education in the U.S. attempted to establish a leadership role in establishing an educational system that could compete globally. Much of the debate surrounded the development of the common school system revolved around “the degree of standardization desirable in American institutional forms, behavior, and cultural values” (Tyack, 1987, p. 25). This movement grew as other immigrants from other nations entered America to fulfill their dreams. With the boom of the industrial revolution, many educational systems reflected practices that focused on repetition, rote memorization, and recitation that was aimed at promoting production, economic stability, financial prominence, and social dominance in the U.S. economic world market. …show more content…
Cuban (1989) acknowledges that the alternative school movement of the 1960-1970’s took place within the context of a larger social reform era, but never establishes the role or function such a context plays in affecting the fate of most alternative education schools of that
America used to thrive on its education system and that is why it became one of the greatest nations in the world. Education is the backbone of our country, and we must give high priority to improve its current condition. Unfortunately, in the past couple of decades, the education system has been regressing. It has been on the decline and not as effective. The quality of education in a country has an influence on GDP growth, social cohesion and social well being in general. In order to improve the quality of education in the U.S., the following must be taken into consideration: the structure of our education system must be reanalyzed, we must compare and contrast our education system to systems of other countries with higher rankings, and finally, there must be a solution.
Public education in America began in the early to mid-19th century with the simple goal of “uniting the American population by instilling common moral and political values” (Spring, 2012, p. 5). Our country was founded by men who designed the constitution so that it could be amended to accommodate changing political and social climates. They believed in the ideology of the American dream which “holds out a vision of both individual success and the collective good of all” (Hochschild & Scovronick, 2004, p. 1). It is with this same ideology that our public schools were
In his article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto satirically poses several questions concerning the purpose, structure, function, and need of the current educational system in the United States. Utilizing anecdotes from his thirty years of teaching experience and extensive research on the historical origins of many modern school customs to justify his tantalizing arguments, Gatto rhetorically inquires about the true motives and rationale behind an outdated institution system which continually steals more than a dozen years of precious life from millions of Americans in the pursuit of furthering a prejudicial class-separation bound together by conformity.
By the middle of the twentieth century, as the United States became a world power, the educational focus had shifted from elementary education to the attainment of high school and college degrees. A goal of education was to produce leaders. The period after WWII
After the War of 1812, the national character of the U.S. was that of a country that wanted a new identity. The country began changing things about the education, manufacturing, mobility, and economy that they had before to separate themselves from other countries, especially Britain. The first way that they began to separate was with the new form of education. The United States saw education as a way to develop a rich and uniquely American culture. Webster made an English dictionary which was sued by many and showed that they didn’t need Britan for precedents on education.
This angst lead government officials to invest in education as an attempt to preserve this English and Christian culture for future generations. Initially, education in America began as an entity restricted exclusively for affluent white men. This dogma changed when governing American leaders recognized that in order to preserve and sustain their ideal American culture, including their elevated status, they must disseminate their cultural principles upon the masses. The transmission of culture came in the framework of an education system. According to Perkinson, the first educational policies began as “Revival meetings, free bibles, and tracts that were used to socialize young immigrants into moral, upright, Christian citizens” (Perkinson, pages 12-14).
America had never taken the topic of education as seriously as before, showing its want and need for education more than ever. In the 1850’s many immigrants from Europe had migrated to America to begin a new life. Moving because of famines or revolutions in the 1840’s, America was home to around three-million immigrants in total between 1850 and 1860. This massive wave of immigration caused a nativist feeling to spread over America. Americans began viewing immigrants as inferior to them and required them to go to school to “Americanize” them.
If one were to ask, what has happened to America and how did we arrive here, John Stormer has some very detailed and perhaps shocking conclusions mostly deriving at the fact that America did this to herself. The reader is guided through some legislation and ideas that has brought this society to its knees. Stormer proposed that the philosophies of John Dewey propagated the destruction of American education by shifting education from learning facts and teaching absolutes to social learning. (p36) He used a comment from a Chief of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army during the Korean War to describe the American soldiers as weak with no loyalty or will to fight.
School Life in the 1950’s was harder than today because the facilities were few and inadequate. Teachers were stricter and corporal punishment was still in use. They had fewer subjects and wealth, discrimination, sexism and racism meant they could only do certain subjects.
There was a time when America’s education system was top-notch according to the culture and society. With time, a myriad of things has changed, but unfortunately what has not evolved is the American education system. The country is still following a system which was not designed for the current global economic climate. Equality, as positive as it sounds is not as sufficient when it comes to education. The system treats students equally yet expect a similar culmination and outcome. Every child has his individuality and distinct abilities; one cannot judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Conversely, a few of the prominent reasons why the education system is failing are overcrowded schools, the rise of technology, and following the same old school hours.
Residential schools in the 1970s were mainly created because they wanted to “Kill the indian in the child,” There were over 130 schools located all across the country that were funded by the government and ran by the churches. Residential schools are not like your normal typical school it’s hell that’s the only word to describe it. First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were taken from their homes and put in these schools to assimilate their culture, language and way of life.
The educational system in the United States was originally developed using concepts from around the world, created using ingenuitive ideas from countries such as China, Japan, and Korea. However, as the United States quickly moved into position as the leading country for state-directed educational standards, America looked less and less to the systems of other nations and more into how we could improve what was locally and currently being applied in education. Consequently, an improved type of education instruction was officially launched in 2010. These new state standards, practically titled Common Core, were declared to focus on developing a child’s skills in reasoning, problem solving, communication, and competition (Conrad, et al. 52). While the standards are professed to be an extremely practical and beneficial method of teaching today, there are issues which have recently surfaced and raised some concerns. The Common Core State Standards are emerging as the subjects of a provocative controversy in society today as they prompt discussion on global economic efficiency, nationwide academic standards, and the ultimate well-being of school-age children.
The American Education System is not meeting the needs of current students. If anything, the system is not building a sturdy foundation for the future working class. Schools have existed for many years and every period they have worked differently. However, every school’s main purpose was to educate students to be efficacious later in life. Modern day schools are corrupting students with added pressure, standardized tests, making less accommodations for special education students, not following laws, and take away individualism from the students’. The students of modern times are the people of our future and the future does not look too bright with the current American Education System.
Education has an importance in the world that cannot be matched. By learning new things and applying them to everyday tasks, the world has rapidly advanced over the past century. However, in the beginning of the 20th century, there were not many educational opportunities for the public, but with the help of World War I (WWI), changes were made. Even though there were not immediate impacts after World War I, the war set the stage for the development of education in the United States because women were granted more educational rights, and the government instituted programs to improve overall education.
Traditional and alternative high schools are just two of the many ways a student can earn a high school diploma. Both options are public and usually consist of the same requirements for graduation. An alternative high school is defined by dictionary.com as “A school with an educational setting designed to accommodate educational, behavioral, and/or medical needs of children and adolescents that cannot be adequately addressed in a traditional school environment.” When a student is choosing a high school there are many factors they might consider; one should first create their own ideals for a high school experience before choosing. While traditional and alternative high schools have some similarities, differences are more evident based on three main categories: education style, student populace, and possible opportunities.