Identify reasons that the states established free and universal education.
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
1. Identify reasons that the states established free and universal education.
2. Describe the practical and pedagogical reasons for the establishment of schools by the age of children.
3. List some of the people and events that have been influential in determining school curriculum in the nation’s schools.
4. Analyze some of the historical events that have resulted in different educational experiences among students from diverse racial and ethnic groups.
5. Identify changes in the professional lives of teachers between the 19th century and now.
Knowing the past helps us plan the future. Since the Boston Latin School was established in 1635, the nation has adopted universal schooling for all children, established a public education system, desegregated schools, and opened post-secondary education to almost any student who desires it. In studying the history of education, we find that some educational practices appear cyclical, reappearing in a different form every few generations. Movements such as progressivism have had a lasting effect in some aspects of schooling even though it fell out of favor as a movement by the 1950s. Reforms of schools come and go as school administrators and policymakers strive to find the magic curriculum, teaching strategies, and system that will ensure that students learn at high levels.