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Changing Ideas of the Basics
The success of mechanical art and freehand drawing preparing students for careers such as: architecture, carpentry, ship building, surveying, photography, and engineering. -
Comprehensive Education
Attempts begin to legislate against German and in favor of English. The 1889 Bennett Act in Wisconsin legislates that children ages eight to fourteen in public or private schools must be instructed in English in the “three R’s” and American History. The Illinois legislature passes a similar measure known as the Edwards Act. Both laws are eventually repealed, but damage to bilingual instruction is done. http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/roots_in_history/bilingual.html -
Comprehensive Education
The National Education Association appoints a “Committee of Ten,” to study the issue of school curriculum. Traditional educators see high school as a college preparatory institution while others believe the high school should offer a more utilitarian curriculum. The committee concludes that schools should maintain a single academic curriculum and all students should master an equally rigorous curriculum.
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/roots_in_history/bilingual.html -
Universal Education
Plessy V. Ferguson
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the the constitutionality of "seperate but equal" accomodations for African Americans. Originally this referred to seating in a railroad car but it quickly extended to the schools. Those Who Can, Teach pg 346 -
Expanding Definitions of Educational Access and Equality
The majority of students in urban centers are children of immigrants. Schools are called upon to prepare these students for jobs in the new urban industrial economy.
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/roots_in_history/choice_master3.html -
Local Control
IN, LA, and MA begin to track students with testing and setting standards. -
Comprehensive Education
MA Comission on Industrial and Technological Education argues that schools are "exclusively literary" and that youth need "training of a practical character that would prepare them for the job industry". -
Public Education
No significant programs in the public schools developed, however, until 1908 when Dr. William H. Maxwell, superintendent of schools, made a special plea in his report to the Board of Education. "Again I appeal to you, in the name of suffering childhood, to establish in each school facilities whereby the pupils may obtain simple wholesome food at cost price."
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Lunch/AboutLunch/ProgramHistory_2.htm -
Comprehensive Education
Agriculture is taught in 4,000 high schools.
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/roots_in_history/bilingual_master3.html -
Comprehensive Education
The United States enters World War I, spurring a wave of language restriction in schools. Many states, questioning the loyalty of non-English speakers, enact English-only instruction laws. Most public school systems curtail the study of German. Mobs raid schools and burn German textbooks. Anti-German sentiment quickly turns to hostility toward all minority tongues. By the mid 1920s, bilingual education is dismantled throughout the country.
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/roots_in_history/ -
Local Control
American School Board Journal publishes an article by Harlan C. Hines, professor at the University of Washington, critical of the new era of testing. “The writer has come to feel that a test loses its value and becomes a dangerous weapon in the hand of the untrained.”
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/roots_in_history/bilingual_master3.html -
Secular Education
Tennessee vs. John Scopes ("the Monkey Trial") captures national attention as John Scopes, a high school biology teacher, is charged with the heinous crime of teaching evolution. The trial ends in Scopes' conviction. The evolution versus creationism controversy persists to this day.
http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/educationhistorytimeline.html#1800
