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Thomas Jefferson
President Jefferson believed that the survival of democracy was dependent on the education of all Americans. He created "A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge" which granted students three years of free, tax-funded public education. Though this allowed access to education for more students, African-Americans were not able to go to school. -
Noah Webster
Considered the ”Schoolmaster of American”, Webster eliminated all remnants of British education to enforce a strong, nationalist mindset in young students. He later published a textbook entitled the "Blue Back Speller" to teach students about America and its inhabitants which too created American-English, the language we use today. -
Catharine Beecher
Beecher spearheaded the promotion of female teachers because she believed it was a woman's moral calling. Students under male teacher's tutelage would often get disciplined, so education was a "perfect" profession for women because of their caring nature. Beecher founded colleges to teach women how to be educators and allowed for teaching to be a respectable profession for women. Her efforts are the reason the majority of teachers are women. -
William A. Wirt
After the sudden emergence of public schools in Gary, Indiana, Wirt was hired as the superintendent of the district. Wirt, a disciple of progressive education, wanted a rich school experience for students, so he created a split-shift system in schools. He made sure that every classroom and space was in constant use which made schools cheaper. Progressive education was later ended by John Hyland, mayor of New York, because he believed it prepared kids to work in a factory, not succeed in life. -
Life Adjustment Education
For the 60% of students not enrolled in vocational or college prep courses, they were expected to attend life adjustment education courses. Created by the U.S. Office of Education, life adjustment education focused on teaching high school students lessons on family life, hygiene, and health. Some of lessons include, how to court someone, how to kiss, and career planning. Although they believed this was progressive education, it was actually severely regressive. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
While schools were being segregated, the NAACP enlisted 12 African-American parents to try and enroll their kids into white schools near their houses. All 12 families got turned down, including Oliver Brown and his daughter. Brown sued the Board of Education and took his case to the Supreme Court. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court announced there shall no longer be segregation in schools. -
The National Defense Education Act
During the Cold War, schools no longer tolerated progressive education and deemed mere discussion of socialism and communism to be un-American. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the US went into a panic and believed it was because they were better educated. To combat this, President Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act which granted $100 million of federal money yearly to public education so students could be trained as engineers and astronauts. -
Desegregation Busing
After Brown vs. Board of Education, schools were slowly beginning to integrate, but many districts chose to ignore the ruling entirely. Desegregation busing began to help speed up the integration process where minority students would be taken to white schools and vise versa. Busing helped the schools gain a wider perspective of other life and cultures, but a lot of students chose not to bus at all and would "skip the bus when it came". -
The Bilingual Education Act
Crystal City High School students were being Americanized by their schools and they believed this was unjust. Students contacted the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice saying that they want equality and respect in schools. Later, President Johnson started the Bilingual Education Act which offered federal money to helping ELL students learn English and provided schools with books from numerous cultures. -
The Choice Experiment
Starting in East Harlem, The Choice Experiment began which is where smaller, alternative schools were being created within public school buildings. These choice schools had a variety of different styles of education like progressive, traditional, sport, performing arts, etiquette, etc. Choice schools began showing great results -- outperforming half of the city's other districts -- and educators attribute the success to the small, personalized schools. -
Ronald Reagan
President Reagan was an opponent of the "public school monopoly" and believed that all schools had low standards, no purpose, and a failure to strive for excellence. Additionally, Reagan blamed the Civil Rights Movement for hurting basic education and that, now, education is hurting the economy. He planned on increasing competition in schools and changed school's goals from equity for all children to excellence. -
Educational Alternative Incorporated
Educational Alternative Incorporated (EAI) went into public schools and claimed to be able to run schools, boost test scores, and make a profit for the same price per pupil. Schools in Baltimore agreed to this so the EAI began to make improvements on the schools. Although the buildings were better and money was being saved, the education of the students were at the same level as their peers in public schools. The EAI, however, was able to pave the way for schools to spend their own money.