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Explore the history and philosophy of education, including the common school reform era and the progressive era. Learn about common elements of early state plans for education and the challenges faced in the early 1800s. Discover the goals and reforms of progressive educators.
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EDTHP 115Announcements2/19/03 • Test, Schedule Changes, etc. • PowerPoint Presentations, Outlines, and Handouts • For next week: read Henry Giroux’s The Mouse that Roared • Paper #2 will ask you to respond to and analyze the book, The Mouse that Roared, the film, Mickey Mouse Monopoly, and the talk by Giroux • We will give you a handout on the paper on Friday
The History and Philosophy of Education • John Dewey on the need to articulate philosophy and understand history • Experience and Education (1938) • Democracy and Education (1916) • Common School Reform Era, 1830-1860s • Progressive Era, 1890-1950s (part I) • Philosophy and Theories of Education
Common Elements of Plans of Jefferson, Rush, & Webster • Uniform • Systematic—focused on building a state system of education • Serving republican purposes • Public supported
Why did early state plans for education fail? • Resistance to taxes • Resistance to central control • Devotion to local control and individual choice • A faith in existing educational arrangements • The population was too scattered, too varied, too lacking in surplus and taxable wealth to create the types of systematic public education envisaged by the theorists
What Did Schools Look Like in the Early 1800s? • American population was very rural: 95% in 1790 and 91% in 1830 • The “little red schoolhouse” never really existed • 60 or 70 students shut up for 6 hours a day in a small space • Young children often on uncomfortable benches too close to the fire or stove • Students from ages 2 up through 14, but sometimes older • Schools at this time reflected the diversity of America and rural communities
What Did Schools Look Like in the Early 1800s? (con’t.) • The pedagogical challenge of keeping order in the schoolhouse • Memorization as the main task • Most teachers not well trained • Teachers were young, only taught 2 or 3 months a year and had to combine jobs • Textbooks not standardized • Funding for education was a mix of public and private • Mix of types of schools
Common School Reform Era1830-1860s(+) • Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania in 1826: “Education. May the film be removed from the eyes of Pennsylvania and [may] she learn to dread ignorance more than taxation.” • Common school reformers called their efforts a “crusade.”
Common School Reform Leaders • Horace Mann • Secretary of the newly created Massachusetts State Board of Education, 1837-1848 • Developed a set of arguments for the creation of Common Schools
Common School Reformers’complaints about local school conditions: • School terms too short • Irregular attendance • Bad facilities • Shortsighted and penurious district control • Poor quality of teachers • Insufficient supervision • Lack of uniformity • Indifferent parental support
Common School Reform Agenda • Concern for non-attenders and urban children—get children into school • Increase the length of the school year • Consolidate rural districts into town systems • Develop mechanisms for state supervision and regulation • Encourage the transition from private to public control of schools
Common School Reform Agenda (con’t.) • Improve efficiency and teacher quality • Create uniform textbooks, curricula • Improve school buildings • Limit corporal punishment • In general: Standardization and Uniformity
Common School Reforms and Policies • Legislation/Laws • Create new institutions • Construct new school buildings • Standardize the curriculum • Improve teacher training
Legislation [not covered on 2/19/03] • State authority for education • Permitted residents to organize local school districts • Deliberately encourages the establishment of school districts, with elected boards that had power to levy taxes • Made Common Schools compulsory by mandating the establishment of districts, boards, taxes
Laws (con’t.) [not covered on 2/19/03] • Massachusetts: • 1826: law requiring every town to elect a school committee responsible for schools in the town • 1836: established state board of education • 1852: compulsory attendance law—12 weeks of schools, at least 6 of which continuous • By 1890 27 states • In 1918 all 48 states
Importance of Education in the Progressive Era • New Views of Children and Schooling • New Curricula • New Ways of Classifying Children • New Philosophies and Theories • New Structures: Kindergarten; Junior High; High School; Junior College • New Practices • Overall—The Establishment of Many Ideas, Structures, and Practices That Remain Today
General Goals of Progressive Educators • Schools should be adapted to the child, instead of adapting children to schools • Schools should meet the needs of the whole child—intellectual, physical, emotional • The curriculum and instructional practices should be “modernized” • Away from the overly rigid, mechanized, “lock-step” instruction of the 1800s • Schools should meet new needs of society