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The First Morrill Act, also known as the "Land Grant Act" becomes law
It donates public lands to states, the sale of which will be used for the "endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." Many prominent state -
-In spite of opposition by southern states, the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified and becomes law
It guarantees privileges of citizenship including due process and equal protection under the law including the right to vote for freed male slaves. It becomes the basis for the rulings in Brown v. Board of Education and Pyler v. Doe as well as many other important court cases. -
Homer Plessy, a 30-year-old African American, challenges the state of Louisiana's "Separate Car Act," arguing that requiring Blacks to ride in separate railroad cars violates the 13th and 14th Amendments.
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Louisiana law stating in the majority opinion that the intent of the 14th Amendment "had not been intended to abolish distinctions based on color." Thus, the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson makes "separate but equal" policies legal. It becomes a legal precedent used to justify many other segregation laws, including "separate but equal" education. -
Edward Lee Thorndike's book, Educational Psychology: The Psychology of Learning, is published.
It describes his theory that human learning involves habit formation, or connections between stimuli (or situations as Thorndike preferred to call them) and responses (Connectionism). He believes that such connections are strengthened by repetition ("Law of Exercise") and achieving satisfying consequences ("Law of Effect"). These ideas, which contradict traditional faculty psychology and mental discipline, come to dominate American educational psychology for much of the Twentieth Century and gr -
As the U.S. enters W.W.I the army has no means of screening the intellectual ability of its recruits
Robert Yerkes, then President of the American Psychological Association and an army officer, becomes Chairman of the Committee on Psychological Examination of Recruits. The committee, which includes Louis Terman, has the task of developing a group intelligence test. He and his team of psychologists design the Army Alpha and Beta tests. Though these tests have little impact on the war, they lay the groundwork for future standardized tests. -
John B. Watson and his assistant Rosalie Rayner conduct their experiments using classical conditioning with children
Often referred to as the Little Albert study, Watson and Rayner's work showed that children could be conditioned to fear stimuli of which they had previously been unafraid. This study could not be conducted today because of ethical safeguards currently in place. -
After earlier failed attempts to regulate child labor, the Fair Labor Standards Act is signed in to law by president Franklin D. Roosevelt
Among its many provisions (which include setting a minimum wage of 25 cents per hour!), the act sets a minimum age for working in non-agricultural jobs and limits the number of hours and types of employment for older children. -
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the Earth
Occurring in the midst of the Cold War, it represents both a potential threat to American national security as well as a blow to national pride. -
On April 30th, the number of U.S. military personnel in Vietnam stands at 543,482, the most at any time during the war.
College enrollments swell as many young men seek student deferments from the draft; anti-war protests become commonplace on college campuses, and grade inflation begins as professors realize that low grades may change male students' draft status. -
New York follows Georgia's lead and passes legislation that will phase in voluntary pre-kindergarten classes over a four-year period
However, preschool funding is a casualty of September 11, 2001 as New York struggles to recover. As of 2008, about 39% of the state's four year olds, mostly from low-income families, are enrolled.
