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To teach about Jesus
. Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock- Religious and Moral Development -
17th Century- The Basics
Birth of the Opportunity Gap – Education is created as two-track system for upper class and lower class. Lower class were taught the basics of reading, writing, to calculate, and religious studies. Upper class could explore education beyond the basics (Interestingly familiar?) -
To Educate Rich (white) Males
to be literate and well versed about The Bible. Roxbury Latin School is formed to educate sons of certain classes who were preparing to become leaders in a church, state, or courts. -
Reading and Writing for all (aka white children).
Massachusetts published law that said that children had to be educated or apprenticed to a trade and that families were responsible for teaching children the basics. Boys were taught to fish and hunt and girls were taught to sew and cook. -
To outwit Satan
Massachusetts passed the ‘Old Deluder Satan Act’. Students were taught to read the scriptures and the act stated that big enough towns needed to educated children in some capacity. Education is power, but only for some! Education is still divided largely by class and education was “forbidden” for slaves in the South (p.5) -
18th Century-To prepare (white) men for college
Religion, Science, and the Classics. Education is still about Jesus, but not as much. Wealth led to higher demands and a desire for a higher social standing. -
To prepare rich, white men to be lawyers and politicians
Benjamin Franklin establishes first Academy (private boarding school) in Philadelphia. -
Education in the vernacular n’at
Move away from Latin and Greek texts to more accessible texts. The Blue Black Speller was introduced, which included moral and patriotic values and grammar and spelling. -
To educate females (finally)
Sarah Pierce established Litchfield Female Academy, which went on to educate almost 3,000 females. -
To educate all white children
The first ‘common schools’ were funded by local property taxes. States controlled the schools. -
Period: to
Battle of the Bible
Catholic immigrants caused prejudice and disagreement with Protestants about which bible to use and Catholics started parochial schools as a response. -
To differentiate learning (kind of)
The Mcguffey Readers were introduced and allowed teachers flexibility to reach different ages and levels in one classroom. -
To promote teacher autonomy (what the heck happened?)
The first Normal School was developed to train teachers and to encourage them to use their own ideas in the classroom. -
To ensure that students attended school
the Compulsory Attendance Act of 1852. -
To read, be morally developed, and a good citizen
Democratization led to the belief that reading provided more opportunities, so a key focus was literacy and individual success. Industrial development influenced the emphasis on reading and math for vocational competence. There was also a focus on mental discipline to ‘train the brain’. -
To empower and aid former slaves
The Freedmen’s Bureau Bill was passed by Abraham Lincoln, which eventually led to more that 90,000 former slaves being enrolled in public schools. -
To propel rural students to high school (if they passed)
The Eighth Grade Exam was introduced, which was the first significant standardized test. -
To create public high schools that were funded by taxes
This allowed children from other classes access to secondary education, which is kind of a big deal! -
To (try) to force assimilation and acculturation
African American and Native American children were being forced to abandon their culture and were marginalized to other schools. -
To philosophically perpetuate the opportunity gap
High school is viewed as a pathway for college preparation for only certain students. -
To deliver content to all students and prepare ALL students for success
All Hail The Committee of Ten! -
To reach the American Dream (immigrants galore)
The needs of the learner weren't considered at all and schools weren't equipped to meet the needs of immigrant children. -
To establish guiding principles for secondary education
The 7 Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education. (What happened to these? It’s time to bring them back!) -
To educate the whole child and consider the needs and interests of the learner
Let’s get progressive! The aims of education were related to meaning making and practical skills related to technology and vocational exploration. The Progressive Movement shifted the focus of curricula to collaborative, experiential learning. -
Period: to
To get the most bang for the buck and to continue to stratify students based on class (will this ever end?)
Decisions start being made based on money, rather than on what is best for learners and families.) Tracking students is common practice and students are divided by enrollment in college prep courses or vocational/industrial tracks. -
To (finally) end segregation in schools
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka -
To survive in a competitive world
Bye, bye progressivism, hello rigor! A move from experiential learning, to discipline-centered practices. -
To hold schools accountable for discriminating against children
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 -
To rid of the discipline-centered curriculum
People are actually aware of sociocultural issues (poverty, racism, The Vietnam War) and move to a humanistic view of curriculum. “To encourage individual development within the framework of democratic social structures” (yes, please) (p. 41) -
To move towards educating ALL students
Public Law 94-142 requires that additional resources be given to schools with ‘special students’. -
Period: to
To (finally) educate EVERYONE
The New Deal included funding for various initiatives to be put towards education. -
To Educate America (not to be confused with, ‘Make America Great Again’
Bill Clinton’s Goals 2000 sought to develop national standards. This initiatve led to the formation of the National Education Standards and Improvement Council (NESIC), which was a group designated to ensure that the standards were accessible to all students. -
To ‘Leave No Child Behind’
The development of Adqueate Yearly Progress (AYP) to determine if schools are in need of an improvement plan. If students don’t make AYP, perhaps because they are mired in poverty and faced with other stressors, then funding would potentially be pulled from the school (sanctions) so they would have less resources? Kind of paradoxical! -
An attempt at national consistency
The adoption of the Common Core by many states speaks to the desire to have more consistency. There are differing viewpoints about the standards and the tests that align to the standards. -
To try to combat historical inequities and incompetent and clueless policy makers, while trying to remain optimistic and protect funding for students and schools who need it the most!
The gap still exists, the debates continue, and all we can do is hope that the Maker Movement, STEM, ESSA, and the hopeful return of a humanistic curricula provide some joy for student learning as they progress through school…