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Introduction to 20 th Century American Education

Introduction to 20 th Century American Education. The twentieth century was a time when basic American education was promoted to the next level. The goal was to improve the quality of education. During that time the major trends in American education were:

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Introduction to 20 th Century American Education

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  1. Introduction to 20th Century American Education Thetwentieth century was a time when basic American education was promoted to the next level. The goal was to improve the quality of education. During that time the major trends in American education were: • John Dewey’s development of experimentalist educational philosophy; • The rise of progressivism in education; • The transition of high schools being the primary source of secondary education; • The quality of higher education; • Teacher preparation; • The development of racial integration

  2. Reconstructivism emphasis on social reform Experimentalism emphasis on pedagogy and experience John Dewey Progressivism

  3. Dewey’s Ideas http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/betan2.au • According to Dewey, human Interaction with the environment constitutes experience. • People share social and physical environments, and this association enriches experience by providing opportunities for increased human interaction where individual experiences grow more. • Human intelligence is the sum total of this experience. • Education is a form of cultural imposition; and school is a balanced environment in which children encounter and solve problems that add to this experience.

  4. Dewey believed that the scientific method is the most accurate means of directing the process of change. His problem solving method includes five steps: 1. There is perplexity, confusion and doubt by one’s involvement in a situation whose full character is undetermined. This situation disrupts the smooth flow of ones experience because prior experience of habit is totally inadequate to deal with it. The situation calls for a complete act of thought, or stimulate reflective behavior. It should be pointed out that when there is no determinate or disturbing state of affairs, there is no thought or reflective behavior since habit is sufficient to deal with the situation (which actually is no situation since there is nothing disturbing).

  5. Dewey’s “complete act of thought”, or problem solving method became the basis of the activity method for learning (inquiry approach) in which students solve problems based on their interests and needs by using scientific procedure. 2. Dewey calls the second step “ a conjectural anticipation, a tentative interpretation of the given elements. Attributing to them a tendency to effect certain consequences.” In other words, the person involved perceives the situation in its problematic character; he thus defines it, and attempts to locate the problem. 3. This phase involves a careful survey including examination, inspection, exploration and analysis of all relevant data necessary to define and clarify the problem. Here, ideas are evolved to guide action that must be undertaken to enhance the solution of the problem.

  6. Cont… 4. The tentative hypothesis is subjected to logical elaboration. This is the effort to determine what outcomes can be for-seen as probable in solving the problem. 5. The projected hypothesis is tested to ascertain or secure the desired result. If the problem is solved, then the learner resumes activity until he encounters another problem.

  7. Educational Philosophies • Experimentalism…the primary purpose of school is to teach children to think effectively…analyze, criticize, select between alternatives, propose solutions. • Experience anything to learn it • Education should be a study of social problems • Solutions to social problems • Experimentalism…progressivism…pragmatism Dewey, Peirce, William James • Social Reconstructionism…change society through education…George Counts,Paulo Freire

  8. Dewey-Key Points Dewey constantly developed ideas about education based on an uncanny ability to observe children and how they learned. Within a few years of starting his school, he listed a set of beliefs that were to guide his successors for years to come: • Students begin learning by experimentation and develop interests in traditional subjects to help them gather information. • Students are part of a social group in which everyone learns to help each other. • Students should be challenged to use their creativity to arrive at individual solutions to problems. • The child has individual strengths which should be cultivated and grown. • Instead of applying external coercion, the teacher should guide the learner in solving problems

  9. Dewey’s Beliefs on Cooperation and Shared Experiences Dewey’s method of education stresses cooperative learning, based on shared experience and the use of democratic practices. The end of education is simply growth, which leads to the direction of experience. Growth involves the ability to relate experiences and use them. Learning by experience through problem solving continuous reconstruction of experience. A K.A. - Cooperative Learning

  10. From 1896 to 1903, Dewey directed the University of Chicago Laboratory School’s experimental setting, Dewey sought to “coordinator the psychological and social factors” of children’s education by promoting: informal, interactive, constructive and social learning.

  11. Confined to a period between the late 19th and mid-20th century “progressive education” is generally used to refer only to those educational programs that grew out of the American reform effort known as the progressive movement. • The sources of the movement, however, partly lie in the pedagogy of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Johann Pestalozzi, and Friedrich Froebel. • Progressive education embraced industrial training, agricultural education, and social education as well as the new techniques of instruction advanced by educational theorists. • Postulates of the movement were that children learn best in those experiences in which they have a vital interest and that modes of behavior are most easily learned by actual performance.

  12. Progressivism Continued… • The recognition of individual differences was also considered crucial. • Progressive education opposed formalized authoritarian procedure and fostered reorganization of classroom practice and curriculum as well as new attitudes toward individual students. • The progressives insisted, therefore, that education must be a continuous reconstruction of living experience based on activity directed by the child.

  13. William Heard Kilpatrick • He taught at Teachers College, Columbia, from 1909, becoming professor of the philosophy of education in 1918. Acclaimed as the great popularizer of the philosophy of John Dewey, Kilpatrick rejected organized subjects; his child-centered emphasis, however, represented a sharp divergence from the position of Dewey. Kilpatrick developed the project method. Basing his method on active-based learning, he distinguishes four classes of projects: • Constructive/creative project (formulate • or design a plan) • 2. Appreciation project (aesthetic enjoyment) • 3. Problem project (problem solving) • 4. Drill project (learning a skill)

  14. CLASS DISCUSSION • How did the ideas of the above mentioned educational philosophers impact today’s classroom practices? • Can you identify some practices that are implemented in today’s classrooms that may have rooted from the philosophies previously discussed?

  15. The High School The high school had become the dominant institution of American secondary education in the years from 1880 to 1920. In 1918, The National Education Association’s Commission issued its “Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education” which listed seven goals of secondary education: • Health 2. Command Of Fundamental Processes (reading, math, etc.) 3. Worthy Home Membership 4. Vocational Education 5. Civic Education 6. Worthy Use Of Leisure 7. Ethical Character

  16. High School • Though attendance had increased between 1880 and 1920, George S. Counts concluded that high schools were selective institutions that served the upper class. • By 1930 students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds began to enroll, and a wider range of curricula was introduced. • High school has always been subjected to the demands of the political realm (ie. World War I and II, Sputnik, etc…)

  17. The Conant Reports • In 1958 James B. Conant claimed that the high school had three major functions: provide a general education; provide elective programs for terminal students; offer college prep programs. • In Slums and Suburbs 1961, Conant found that schools in the suburbs emphasized academic preparation for college admission, while economically disadvantaged schools in the slums offered inadequate vocational programs (claiming that particular high schools were based largely on socioeconomic class/ race. • During the mid 60’s the high school curriculum in response to Sputnik-generated reforms moved in the direction of emphasis on academic disciplines.

  18. Conant Reports Cont.. • Along with curricular innovations, new concepts of organizing schooling such as team teaching, modular scheduling, and individualized instruction became popular in the 60’s. • In 1970, secondary educators were warned by Charles Silberman (Crisis in the Classroom) that “schools had once again become too formalized, inhumane and controlled by mindless routines.” • He suggested that schools should allow more student options and choices, and reconstruct the curriculum. • By the late 70’s education shifted back to the basics-a common core of subject matter. • In the 80’s, the ideas of a common curricular core (Conant and Ernest L. Boyer) was a persistent theme.

  19. High Schools • According to educational critics, high school curriculum in the 60’s was too formal and remote from students’ needs. • In the 80’s critics claimed that high school curriculum was too weak and there needed to be an emphasis on fundamental academics. • The report A Nation at Risk claimed that the U.S. was losing its competitive edge in international trade because of declining academic achievement in high schools-high school curriculum should stress the basic five. • Throughout the twentieth century, American high schools have been subjected to political change and cycles of criticism and response.

  20. Higher Education • The 2 major developments in American higher ed in the 20th century were the rapid increase in enrollment and the extensive expansion of the curriculum (with the greatest increase coming after WWII) • Robert Hutchins claimed that “the modern university had degenerated into a service station by catering to vocationalism and money-making.” • 20th century higher ed in the U.S. has experienced numerous changes and the historic decentralization of American higher education produced variations in size, organization, programs, faculties and standards among schools, colleges and universities.

  21. 20th Century Universities • Clark Kerr wrote that universities had experienced 2 great transformations: “at the close of the19th century, when the land grant movement and German intellectualism produced alterations; and after WWII, when the university began to educate masses of students and engaged in federally sponsored research.” He coined the term “multiversity” a collection of communities united only by a common name and governing board . • He found several competitors for power in the multiversity: students demanded a greater voice in university affairs; the faculty gained some authority over admissions, curricula, degree planning, etc.; public authorities such as board of trustees , legislatures, governors etc. came into play; pressure groups developed (ie. trade unions, business organizations, mass media, etc.; and the university administration itself.

  22. Junior Colleges • First Junior college was established in 1901 • Began as an extension of high school • After 1920 the number of junior colleges increased with the greatest growth coming after WWII • During the depression of the 30’s some 4 year colleges reduced to 2 year colleges due to financial pressures • Evolved into the community college-a multifunctional institution providing the first 2 years of study • It has responded to the need for technically trained subprofessionals • Relatively inexpensive education • Vocational and liberal arts courses for adults • Serves as a cultural, educational, and civic center for the community

  23. Two African American Educational Views

  24. Booker Taliaferro Washington • Was born a slave. • Eventually became President of Tuskegee Institute. • Educator, reformer and one of the most influential black leaders of his time. • Preached a philosophy of self-help, racial solidarity and accommodation. • Urged blacks to accept discrimination for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves through hard work and material prosperity. 1856-1915

  25. Washington Facts • Believed in education in the crafts, industrial and farming skills and the cultivation of the virtues of patience, enterprise and thrift. • This he said would win the respect of whites and lead to African Americans being fully accepted as citizens and integrated into all strata of society.

  26. William Edward Burghardt DuBois • Black intellectual, scholar and political thinker. • Said Washington’s strategy would only serve to perpetuate white oppression. • Advocated political action and a civil rights agenda. • Helped found the NAACP. • He argued that social change could be accomplished by developing the small group of college-educated blacks he called “the Talented Tenth”. 1868-1963

  27. DuBois Facts • Attended college at the age of 16. • First black to receive a PhD from Harvard • One of the leaders of the “Niagara Movement” • In his early nineties, DuBois renounced his American citizenship and became a citizen of Ghana, as well as an official member of the Communist Party.

  28. The Debate10-15 minute discussion • Which of these two strategies promised more immediate gains for the Negro? Why? • Why would Washington’s program be rejected by many blacks today? Do you think that one can better his condition in American life without political and social rights? • Laredo and Heather will discuss (answer) question #1. • College Station and Rebecca will discuss (answer) question #2. • We will then come together as a group and have one spokesperson share what was discussed.

  29. How Some Presidents Impacted Education

  30. How Some Presidents Impacted Education

  31. Do You Believe In EVOLUTION?

  32. President Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961

  33. Eisenhower’s Educational Relevance • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)—U.S. Supreme Court decision in which segregation (“separate but equal”) schools were ruled unconstitutional. • Civil Rights Acts of 1957 & 1960— constituted the first significant civil rights acts since the 1870’s. • Little Rock Central H.S. crisis of 1957— involved state refusal to honor a federal court order to integrate the schools. He sent Arkansas National Guard and Army troops to escort nine black students into the all-white school.

  34. Eisenhower’s Educational Relevance • The National Defense Education Act (1958)— was designed to improve education in science, foreign languages, and mathematics. The Act supported guidance, counseling, and testing programs and vocational education. It also provided funds for research, student loans, and graduate fellowships. Also provided funds for summer institutes at colleges and universities.

  35. The “New Frontier”Kennedy’s Domestic Policy President John F. Kennedy 1960-1963

  36. Kennedy’s Educational Relevance • Promised Federal funding for education, medical care for the elderly, and government intervention to halt the recession. Also promised an end to racial discrimination. • Few of Kennedy’s major programs passed Congress during his lifetime, although under his successor (Lyndon Johnson), Congress did vote them through in 1964-65. • One of the most pressing domestic issues was the turbulent end of state-sanctioned racial discrimination. • Many schools in the southern states, did not obey the Supreme Court’s 1954 court decision. Segregation on buses, in restaurants, movie theaters, bathrooms, and other public places remained.

  37. Kennedy’s Educational Relevance • In 1962, James Meredith tried to enroll at the University of Mississippi, but was prevented from doing so by white students. Kennedy responded by sending some 400 federal marshals and 3,000 troops to ensure that Meredith could enroll in his first class. • Also assigned federal marshals to protect the Freedom Riders. • He initially believed the grassroots movement for civil rights would only anger many Southern whites and make it even more difficult to pass civil rights laws through Congress, which was dominated by Southern Democrats, so he distanced himself from it. As a result, many civil rights leaders viewed him as unsupportive of their efforts.

  38. Kennedy’s Educational Relevance • National Defense Education Act (1958 and extended in 1964) • June 11, 1963—Kennedy intervened when Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood from enrolling. Wallace moved aside after being confronted by federal marshals, the Deputy Attorney General and the Alabama National Guard. That night, Kennedy proposed what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964 during a national television and radio address • There were 16,000 American military advisors in Vietnam at the time of his death.

  39. Three Assassinations Would Our World Be Different If They Had Lived?

  40. John F. Kennedy’s Assassination • On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was fatally wounded by gunshots while riding with his wife in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. He was the fourth U.S. President to be assassinated and the eighth to die while in office.

  41. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Assassination “I Have a Dream!” 1929-1968 • At 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968, King was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. • Violence and controversy followed. The FBI investigated the crime, but many believed them partially or fully responsible for the assassination. James Earl Ray was arrested, but many people, including some of Martin Luther King Jr.'s own family, believe he was innocent.

  42. Bobby Kennedy’s Assassination • On June 4, 1968, Kennedy scored a major victory when he won the California primary. He addressed his supporters in the early morning hours of June 5 in a ballroom at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He left the ballroom through a service area to greet supporters working in the hotel's kitchen. In a crowded kitchen passageway, Sirhan B. Sirhan, a 24-year-old Jordanian, opened fire with a .22 caliber revolver. Kennedy was shot in the head at close range. He was rushed to The Good Samaritan Hospital where he died, at the age of 42.

  43. Would Our World Be Different If They Had Lived? Discussion Question: (5-10 minutes) • Would there have been an impact on education had they lived?

  44. Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas • The first step towards white-black equality during the 1950s was the Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision. In 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional. The unanimous opinion of the court partly read:

  45. Court’s Ruling • “Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does...We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.”

  46. A CENTURY IN REVIEW • 1900-1909Model-T, First Flight, Einstein's Theory of Relativity, First Silent Movie • 1910-1919World War I, The Titanic, Russian Revolution, Prohibiton • 1920-1929Women's Suffrage, King Tut's Tomb, Mussolini, J. Edgar Hoover, Mein Kampf, Monkey Trial, Charles Lindbergh • 1930-1939Great Depression, Mohandas Gandhi, Empire State Building, Amelia Earhart, Nazis, "Monopoly," the Hindenburg • 1940-1949World War II, Adolf Hitler, Pearl Harbor, Manhattan Project, Chuck Yeager, Berlin Airlift, Apartheid, Communist China • 1950-1959 Hydrogen Bomb, McCarthyism, Korean War, Color TV, Polio Vaccine, Mt. Everest, Disneyland, Rosa Parks, Sputnik • 1960-1969JFK, Martin Luther King Jr., Eichmann Trial, Berlin Wall, Cuban Missile Crisis, Draft Protests, Charles Manson • 1970-1979Vietnam War, Munich Olympic Games, Watergate, Abortion, Patty Hearst, Pol Pot, Margaret Thatcher • 1980-1989Mikhail Gorbachev, Mount St. Helens, AIDS, Personal Computers, Ethiopian Famine, Exxon Valdez • 1990-1999Internet, Nelson Mandela, Operation Desert Storm, Waco, O.J. Simpson, Oklahoma City Bombing, Princess Diana, Y2K

  47. A Century in Review

  48. 50 Years Later • Discussion questions: • Is resegregation occurring in our schools today? • Is the Academic Achievement Gap a “Civil Rights” issue today? • Is history repeating itself?

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