The First Sign Of True Power Of Education Essay

In the early 1800’s education in America grew and developed rapidly, largely because of the works of three very important men: Noah Webster, William McGuffey, and Horace Mann. These three men were catalysts for the growth of education throughout the nineteenth century, and without them the large strides America took during this time would not have occurred. These great men all shared one goal: to educate the youth of America as well as possible. This was no small task, however, because the educational system in place was disorganized and had several large problems that had to be overcome.

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

Even though the Declaration of Independence does not mention education, our founding fathers did value education. Illustrated by the ordinances they passed “in 1785 and 1787 that granted federal lands to states to create and support public school- an institution that the nation’s founders viewed as essential to democracy and national unification.” (Jennings, p3) In 1959, the admission of Alaska and Hawaii into the Union reconfirmed the Federal government’s support of education. Three distinct elements that impact education are; laws that have been passed, the removal of the church from public schools, and the role of federal government that has evolved and changed over the years. These three factors have transformed education over the

Education has come a long way evolving from wealthy families teaching their children at home to public schools where every race, religion, and status gets an education. Along the way there have been key people and events which shaped the way education plays a part in all our lives. The following paper will expound on a few of those cases. The four people and events contributing to the basis of this paper are Thomas Jefferson, Horace Mann, John Dewey, and the court case of Brown vs. Brown.

An educated society has always been thought of as an essential need for the people of the Americas. The Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 were enacted in the colonies pre declaration of independence from England. These were the first ordinances or acts passed that stated responsibilities of the nation for an education system. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution allowed Congress the power collect taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States. It is under this "general welfare" clause that the federal government has assumed the power to start educational activity in its own right and to participate together with states, and people in educational activities.

In early America, only a couple of schools were open, and children were mainly taught at home or were sent to a boarding school. In 1837, a man named Horace Mann led the Massachusetts Board of Education and he seeked free, equal, non-religious education for all social classes. This was a major step towards obtaining natural rights. In documents H and E, it shows that education is one of the most important things in life. For example, “... It does better than to disarm the poor of their hostility towards the rich; it prevents being poor” (Doc. H). This quote shows that having an education can prevent someone being in poverty because, if you are smart, then you can get a high paying job, which will prevent you from being poor. Another example is, “When he goes to school he walks quickly, and does not lose time on the road. ‘My parents,’ he says, ‘are very good to save some of their money in order that I may learn to read and write’...” (Doc. E). This shows that his parents were willing to spend the extra money for their child to get an education, which will give him a chance at a better life. Without having an education, you will not get very far in life. It is a necessity to life. Education really helped expand democratic ideals in the United States because, giving different class people the chance to attend school and get a free education is the best possible way to do it. You are giving poor and wealthy children the

During the antebellum years education in America was awful. Some of the reasons that education system was bad is because the tax that supported the “free” schools were not organized thus school’s were not repared and the  teachers were not paid well, good education was a luxury

Our system of education is still based of a lot of colonial New England’s system of education. The first public schools of the new world began in New England with the passing of what is referred to as the Olde Deluder Satan Act which “specified that schools be started and publicly supported when town populations were large enough.” So basically they would build a school if the population of a particular are became large enough and the demand from the local citizenship was high enough. Whereas those in the Virginia area’s of the new world were either home schooled (often poorly) or immediately

Back in the 1800s most people didn't recognize the importance of education and how much it actually affected the people in our country. Zeblin Brought states this “America in the late 1800s was a nation that did not have a public education system and had poor education”. Zeblin came to this conclusion after reading Horace Mann's “The Case for Public School”. Horace Mann's speech states this “If one class possesses all the wealth and the education while the residue of society is ignorant and poor, it matters not by what names the relation between them may be called; the later, in fact and in truth, will be the servile dependant and subject of the former”(150). This statement embodies how the white American felt about anyone who didn't perfectly embody them, such as the poor whites, Native Americans and blacks.

Religions are founded on the principle of education of others as well as education of one’s self, yet before the 1800’s America was a largely uneducated country. Few if any philosophers existed, and adept teachers were rare. The 1800’s brought an education revolution upon America, due mainly to the new ideas and concepts being envisioned at the time. Education was becoming a top priority and the Age of Reforms brought an educational system to America.

Since the earliest beginning of education in the United States, African Americans were not included in the education system. For example, in the early years of the colonial America, the Massachusetts Act of 1647 included the education of reading, writing and religion and then later arithmetic. However, the early system of education excluded blacks because many of them were seen as second class citizens and did not have the capacity to understand the ideas and concepts of the new world . Over the next two hundred years, slavery would be the stimulant that would create the greatest disparity in the intellectual ability of the African American.

Since the establishment of America’s first schools, the American people have disagreed not only about what the purpose of school is, but also about what schools should teach. Initially schools were supposed to “prepare men to vote intelligently and prepare women to train their sons properly. Moral training based on the Protestant Bible would produce virtuous, well-behaved citizens [who knew not only] the three R’s but [also] the general principles of law, commerce, money, and government” (Kaestle, 1983, p. 5). During the 1780’s educational theorists began calling for reform and in 1785 Massachusetts law

Education is one of the most essential necessities of a personal life because without education, we would not have a brighter future. In two essays “Learning to Read and Write” and “A Homemade Education”, Malcolm and Douglass describe what they have gone through in order to become more successful in their pursuits in life. While Malcolm X lived part of his life in prison, he spent his time writing numerous definitions from a dictionary amongst the walls and tables. The elements of the dictionary motivated him to not only become a free man, but a well educated one at that. Douglass, who also taught himself, began his life in slavery. But after a series of attempts, he escapes from slavery and pursues into his

The U.S. Educational system has historically divided into two objective groups. The first objective focuses on increasing opportunity. The second objective focuses on stabilizing an unequal society. The objective of increasing opportunity has mainly emphasized on practition more than discussions of schooling. Thomas Jefferson implemented a plan in 1779, it promised the laboring class more opportunity to attend higher education. The point of the plan was to rake out the brilliant from the poor class, and add them to the prospering upper class. The goal of the plan was to divide the youth

Learning to read and write, or getting an education in general, is something that is easily handed to us in the world today. Imagine living in a world where you were expected to be uneducated, illiterate, and stupid. In the texts “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie and “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass, these young boys grew up in different worlds where they were looked down upon and were expected to fail due to the standards they grew accustomed to. Although Douglass and Alexie underwent contrasting hardships on their educational journey, they both shared the realization that learning to read and write was both a curse and a blessing. With those shared