1. History of American
Education – Chapter 7
Ebert, E., & Culyer III, R. (2014). History of American Education. In
School: An introduction to education. Belmont: Wadsworth.
2. Early Influences
• Education is dynamic – ever evolving and ever changing
• American education is strongly influenced by ancient Greeks, Romans,
and Western European influences
• Liberal arts education continues to be a focus of American education
• Education in America has been strongly influenced by social issues of
each century
• Regional differences have always been part of American education
• In the 1700s, early schools emphasized a practical education, but
traditional (or classical) curriculum regained momentum after the
Revolutionary War.
3. 1700s – 1800s
• Education was sometimes available for African- and Native
Americans, but usually by religious groups.
• Education is primarily the responsibility of the states, but the federal
government has influenced education throughout history
• Movement towards an educated populace for purposes of supporting
a democratic government opened the doors for Jim Crow, Plessy v
Ferguson and other discriminatory laws.
• McGuffey Readers influenced character and moral virtues during the
mid-1800s
• Common schools (publicly supported) schools appeared in the 1800s
4. Education Advocates
• Booker T. Washington advanced education for African Americans
through a conciliatory approach
• W. E. B. Dubois supported the notion that a “Talented Tenth” of
African Americans should aspire to be leaders in society. He was one
of the founders of the NAACP
• Horace Mann – encouraged educating all children; he argued that an
educated populace was beneficial economically and to society in
general
• Compulsory education was in all states by 1930
5. Education Debates
• In the late 1800s and early 1900s, various philosophies were
emerging
• Should education be primarily vocational to train workers or should
school offer a more classical training?
• It is through these type debates and discussions where explicit,
implicit, null, and extra curricular decisions are made.
• John Dewey and the Progressivist Educational movement emerge in
the early 20th century
• Land-grant colleges emerge following the Morrill Act of 1862
6. 20th Century Education Influences
• Sputnik (1957)– changes in the schools related to concerns about
national defense and emerging Cold War
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) –
• Federal government categorical funding influenced some programs,
but schools are still the responsibility of each state
• John Dewey’s influence that school should be relevant to a child’s life
with a movement towards affective focus as opposed to a cognitive
focus.
• Maria Montessori emphasized developmentally appropriate
education (what has happened???)
7. 20th Century Influences (cont.)
• Following WWII, there has been a movement back towards academic
rigor, especially following the launch of Sputnik
• Progressive influences remain
• New federal government involvement with National Defense
Education Act, Head Start, and many education laws that resulted
following the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s (think PL 94-142
that became the Education for All Handicapped Children Act)
• Continuing debates and controversies – Back to basics, teacher
accountability, testing, STEM and STEAM, single-gender classes and
schools, Common Core, No Child Left Behind. . .
