-
Old Deluder Satan Act
The Old Deluder Satan Act strengthened education laws in Massachusetts. Its purpose was to teach all children how to read and therefore understand biblical scripture. The law stipulated that every town of 50 or more families was to pay a man to teach reading and writing. These Town Schools set up the beginning of public education in America. -
Period: to
New England Primer
The New England Primer was an illustrated book which was composed of relgious texts and other readings. It was the most widespread and used book of its time and was the basic school text for at least 100 years since its first printing -
The Academy
The academy was a combinatino of Latin and English grammar schools with seperate Latin and English departments in one school. Latin grammar schools studied classical texts whereas English grammar schools offered more instruction in material beyond elementary school but no college content. The academy gradually overtook both types of schools. -
Common Schools Gain Steam
From 1820-1920 common schools were being established around the country. One of the main arguments for a common school was that for a democratic nation to succeed with a voting populace, an educated person was required to cast a proper vote. It sohould be noted that the term common school really only meant white males. However, before education had mainly been reserved for middle-upper class white males so it was a step in the right direction. -
Troy Female Seminary***
Emma Willard, a women's right activist, opened up the first school for women's higher education. Up until this time, if women recieved schooling at all, it was rudimentary math, reading, religion, and household skills. The Troy Female Seminary opened up a new avenue of education for women. -
Morrill Act
Congress passed the first of the Morrill Acts in 1862. This granted each state a minimum of 30,000 acres of federal land which the provision that and income from the rent or sale of this land must be used to create colleges for the study of agriculture and mechanical arts. In 1890 they passed the second Morrill act gave states even more land. The second act also forbade the allocation of the money to colleges which segregated against non-whites unless there was a seperate facility for them. -
Kindergarten
Kindergarten, or "children's garden," was a German idea imported to America. The idea was to present songs and stories to children to lay a foundation before formal education actual began. -
Kalamazo Case***
The court case Stuart and Others V. School District No. 1 of the Village of Kalamazoo and Others, was when Michigan Courts ruled that a school district could tax the public to support high schools and elementary schools. This court cse set a major precdent for financing high schools. -
Growth of Junior High and Middle Schools
During the early 1900's educators debated and expiremented with how the grade levels where set up. Two groupings came out of this experiment came two grade systems: Junior High school covered grades 7-9 and middle schools 6-8. -
Brown V. BOard of Education of Topeka****
This was the landmark case where the SUpreme Court ruled that seperate educatino facilities are "inherently unequal." It made all segregated schools based on race illegal and enacted desegration of all segregated schools. After this case Blacks and Whites no longer went to different schools, but together
