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The roots of the Educational system of the United States can be traced to the establishment of the first English Settlement of James Town in 1607 and would be similar in its application until the end of the Colonial era. This is the source of both the inequality in the education system of America as it discriminated against the poor and minorities and is the reason why religion and education are such important issues to this day.
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Prepared boys for ministry and law and would become the cornerstone for education as many students who would become ministers would become educators themselves.
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Was not religiously affiliated, focused on practical needs: math, science, and navigation.
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The Constitution removes formal religion from the education system and establishes the States responsibility in education. This is noted in the 10th Amendment which states that "...areas not explicitly assigned to the federal government would be the responsibility of each state." Which implicitly implies that each state is responsible for the education of their own state and that the Federal Government does not have control over this, which connects to the modern form of state-based standards.
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Free public schooling becomes accessible to most students. The common school movement prospered because of parental views in education shifting as way to improve the lives of their children, national and local leaders seeing education as a method for assimilating immigrants and improving national productivity, and industry and commerce requiring a more educated populace. Normal schools trained and were targeted towards women which prepared them for teaching all the way to the High School level.
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Focuses on the needs of boys not attending college.
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Massachusetts passed the nation’s first compulsory school attendance law.
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Founds the Tuskegee Institute, a vocational school for African American Students.
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Created standards and methods for High School.
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Created the principles of Education, which included applied goals in health, and civic education.
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Schools become instruments of national purpose and social change.
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The policy of separate but equal formalized the segregation of African Americans in education, transportation, housing, and other aspects of public life. The policy remained in place until it was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1954 in the famous watershed case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
