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Massachusetts School Law of 1642
Put selectmen in the colony in charge of assessing literacy so the children could read and understand the principles of religion and the laws of the country -
Old Deluder Satan Law
Required every town of over 50 families to hire a teacher and every town of over 100 families to create a grammar school. -
Jefferson's Proposal
Jefferson was highly educated in his time, being from a wealthier family. He drafted a proposal to guarantee three years of public education for all children and using that to identify a few genuises who could be educated at a high level. He felt that education was essential in order to ensure democracy so people would knowk how to be a citizen. His proposal was never turned law. -
The Blue-Backed Speller
Noah Webster published a textbook designed to teach about the United States and its inhabitants. The textbook suggested a new national language with different pronunciations and spellings than what were used in Britain. -
*****Horace Mann and the Common School******
Horace Mann was appointed Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education. He noticed great disparities in the schools, which were supported by taxes and fees. Horace Mann was a huge advocate for public education and the importance of giving each student an equal chance and seeing education as the great equalizer. He pushed for higher quality education and to have it be entirely tax funded. https://www.biography.com/people/horace-mann-9397522 -
Great School Debates
Education was hugely protestant and often anti-Catholic so John Hughes fought for a right for a portion of school funds to start Catholic schools. He was denied. However, schools were required to go through their textbooks to cross out any anti-Catholic information so that the school system could have some more separation of church in school. -
Philadelphia Bible Riots
People rioted against and for the use of the Protestant bible in schools. In one of the riots, a Catholic church was burned to the hand. -
Petition to the Boston School Committee
Called for an immediate end of segregration in public schools. Separate schools were not equal. Smith school was investigated as a result. It was found in horrible condition but no action was taken. The school board claimed that the different education was befitting of the different nature of African American children. -
****Catherine Beecher prepares women to head west to teach****
As people were migrating West and starting new schools, Catherine Beecher spoke out that she thought that women were uniquely suited to be teachers and founded the American Women's Educational Association which aimed to prepare teachers and then send them west to help with the schools developing in new territories. She was against women's liberation but wanted women to have a respected career. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/catharine-esther-beecher -
Roberts vs the City of Boston
A little five year old African American Girl named Sarah Roberts was enrolled in Smith school which was in horrible condition so her father tried to get her enrolled in one of the white schools in the neighborhood. She was not allowed in and was even forcibly removed from some. Her father decided to sue Boston for integration in 1849. They lost in Boston, so Roberts took the case to the state and the Commonwealth of Massachusettes did ban segregation of schools in the state in 1855. -
The School and Society by John Dewey
John Dewey was the father of progressive education. He thought that schools should be anchored in the social, intellectual, physical, and emotional development of the child rather than focused on the teacher and the textbooks. -
*****William A Wirt, Superintendent*****
A city grew practically overnight when the steel mill was built on the shores of Lake Michigan. William A Wirt was the superintentendent hired to keep up with the demand. Wirt designed lavish, modern buildings and a curriculum that kept students in motion. He wanted students to be busy all the time so they could always have an opportunity to do something that was interesting to them. He called his system work, study, play. https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Wirt-American-educator -
New York City Mayor Race of 1917
John Hylan in the mayor's race of 1917 attacked progressive education and the Gary Plan as a plot to churn out cheap labor for large corporations. They wanted their students to have the best possible education and felt that the untraditional education of the Gary Plan was just getting them ready to be factory workers. Hylan won and the Gary Plan was out. -
English Only Curriculum
When the US entered the first world war, it became more important to Theodore Roosevelt and others that we were members of one nationality and that schools churned out students who had American ideals. There was a push also to "Americanize" immigrants. -
*****Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka*****
This was a really big case in which the Supreme Court Ruled unanimously that segregation in schools was unconstitutional and overturned the previously accepted idea that "Separate but equal" was okay. Topeka's million dollar high school was integrated but most school activites were segregated and the elementary schools were strictly segregated. This ruling said the schools needed to integrate.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka -
Lyndon B Johnson School Teacher turned President
Johnson believed an equal chance at education meant an equal chance at life. War on poverty-aimed on helping disadvtantaged students-headstart, low interest college loans. Civil rights law of 1964 banned discrimination based on race or ethnicity in all federally funded programs including public schools. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Provided an unprecedented 4 billiion dollars to aid disadvantaged students. Represented a new commitment to quality and equality in education. Gave the federal government power to police school systems and cut off their funds if they weren't integrating. -
Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act
Before 1975, access to appropriate education was denied to students with disabilities. Children with disabilities seldom became students and were characteristically not welcomed in schools. This act brought to light the fact that people disabilities have enormous capabilities especially when they are able to be educated. This act protected the rights and needs of students with disabilities. -
President Ronald Reagan speaks out against public education
Wanted to restore quality in education by increasing competition, strengthening parental choice, and strengthening local control. The idea was that to improve public education, they needed to offer competition for those schools to help motivate them to get better. He said that public schools didn't need more funds, just more reform. -
*****A Nation at Risk Report*****
This report said that the educational foundations of our society are being eroded by mediocrity, threatening our very future as a nation and a people. It was widely debated but it recommended each student seeking a diploma should have 4 courses in English, 3 in math, 3 in science, 3 in social studies, and 1/2 credit in computer science, with two courses in foreign language recommended. It was a catalyst for the academic-standards movement. https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html
