The Story of School, Episode 1

Abstract:

This episode dealt with the time period from 1770-1890, from the Declaration of Independence to the turn of the century. Since we were a new country, a new government was just starting to be created therefore, schools were not yet controlled by the government. Schools were only located in big cities, or in smaller towns whose townspeople pooled their money to create a school. Since the country was no longer under British control, all British text books were destroyed and new books, such as the Primer and the Blue Backs Speller we created. Thomas Jefferson lead a strong push for education. His ideas were that the country needed to educate its people for the survival of democracy. He proposed a guarantee of 3 years of school for every people but it was denied. in the 1830's, Horris Mann was the next person to support public education. He observed many school houses around the colonies, and he found most were insufficient to house student learning. Mann gained respect for the Common School by publishing his findings and suggesting a free school system. 1840 began the great school debate over religion. The Protestant religion was the religion taught in schools. There were, for example, many Catholic Irish families, who believed that if there children went to school they would be forced to change their religious beliefs. They eventually decided to create their own Catholic schools. In the time period after the civil war, numerous African Americans pursued education. Their schools were segregated from white schools and were insufficiently funded. In 1896, a separate but equal law was put into place, legalizing segregation. In the west, with all the expansion, all the new towns needed teachers. Women were the first choice because they were paid less and therefore were cheaper. Katherine Beacher, sister of Harriet Beacher Stowe, founded a college to train women teachers. This push for education created a new ethic were teachers cared for their students.

Summary:

I felt like a lot was packed into this episode. Ranging over 120 years, so much happened and so much changed in order to establish a need for education within this new country. With the help from Thomas Jefferson, Horris Mann, and Katherine Beacher, the idea off a worthy and free educational system became a reality. It is easy to see where prejudices later in the 1900's were created, since the educational system the country first created was segregated from the start, excluding women and minority races (African and Native Americans). I also think it is interesting how they chose teachers. In the beginning it was often times a man who was not about to do other work within a town, so they made him the teacher. Later on, they began making women teachers because they did not have to pay them as much as they would have to pay a man. Although it was done for the wrong reasons, I think by making women be teachers, it added a caring and mother aspect to schooling that helped create the idea of teachers actually caring for their students.