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“Ye Olde Deluder Satan”
The Massachusetts law of 1647 required towns of at least 50 households to hire a teacher to prepare children for university. This law was the catalyst of required education. It also was a time when education began moving out of religious hands and into the governments control. School were headed towards the non-secular public system in place today. If this law was never put in place, required education controlled by the government may not have become the familiar system seen in schools today. -
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Key Events that Shaped Public Schools in the U.S.
Five major historical events that helped shape the current American public school system today. -
End of the War of 1812
By the end of the War of 1812, the U.S. defeated the British and became a more democratic-driven society. They gained a national consciousness that provided them the stimulus to put more serious consideration towards a more democratic education system. Citizens were uniting as a nation to create a public school system that was better adapted to their newer way of life. Teachers also gained more respect as educators and teaching was considered a sacred calling. -
Horace Mann Becomes Secretary of the first State Board of Education
Horace Mann, “The Father of American Education”, was a visionary educator who advocated for free public schools and to help increase their funding. He knew the importance of and pushed for better training for teachers, and aimed to put the democratic education vision of government leaders into widespread practice. As secretary of the State Board of Education in Massachusetts, Mann pushed for social change that helped lead to the universal, nonsectarian and free public education system today. -
Henry Barnard's Educational Reform
Henry Barnard’s influence in public schools today begins with his work as an activist for better public education in the state of Connecticut. He became the secretary of Connecticut’s State Board of Education and went on to professionalize teaching “by awakening teachers to learn and use appropriate pedagogical behaviors” (p. 129). His work can be seen in American public schools today through the actions, methods and pedagogy of teachers. -
Immigrant Population Explodes in the U.S.
Starting in 1840, immigrants began piling into the U.S., with the country quadrupling in population within six years. This immigration growth spurred the implementation of a universal public schooling system. This date is significant because it began the explosion of immigrants that eventually called for a socializing institution. Because of this growth, Americans needed a common national experience to unite the nation — the public school system would serve as the glue that the nation needed.
