The Common School

1. The Common School (1770-1890)

2. 1830-1840s-Jefferson’s dream of statewide school systems takes root 1776- Noah Webster’s Blue Back Speller 1840s- schools are segregated in North 1890-U.S. was providing more schooling to more students than any other country in the world. 1778- Thomas Jefferson guaranteed 3 years of public education 1843 Philadelphia’s Bible Riot 1855 Law abolished segregation of schools in Massachusetts 1890 1770 1770- Only large towns were required to have schools 1837- Horace Mann reviewed schools. Pushed for Common Schools 1846 Frederick Douglas called for desegregation of schools 1850s Catherine Beecher created education for female teachers and McGuffey Readers 1779-1817-Jefferson pushed bill for diffusion of knowledge 1840-½ NY residents were foreign born

3. The Radical Idea of Free Education • The idea of a free, public education at the expense of the government until college → Not written into our Constitution. • In colonial America, only larger towns had established schools. • Elsewhere schools were neither public nor free. • Dame schools & Grammar schools → $$$

4. Colonial Education • Pre-revolutionary schools were preparing children to be like their parents. The education went as far as learning to read the newspaper and calculate taxes. • Most schooling was closely linked to the Protestant Bible. Discipline was based on fear instilled in children using Biblical stories.

5. Building a Nation Eliminating British influences. Schools were thought to be a method to eliminate British influences and to build the new nation. ·They would do this by creating a national history ·Webster created the Blue Back Speller Promoted a new national language that had a different pronunciation of words then Britain

6. Thomas Jefferson Drafted a proposal for 3 years of public education for all children He thought public education was essential for a democratic government. ·He believed one had to learn the foundations of education to be a citizen ·A little education for the mass ·Those that were capable would go on for further education

7. Need for Reform • General condition of rural district schools was poor • Inadequate books: materials and resources were poor • Teachers did not have training • Student ages ranged from very young to the age of their teacher • Students were to memorize information no matter how dated or irrelevant • Harsh discipline: rules being disobeyed equaled lashes • Uncomfortable seats and dilapidated buildings • Horace Mann: how were students expected to grow academically under these conditions

8. Horace Mann’s Reform: 1830-1840s • Transition from leader of Massachusetts State Senate to first Secretary of Board of Education • Reviewed facilities on horseback • Visited schools and wrote reports of inequity • Poor could not attend school • Wanted to change public education to be desirable • Job for the government • Common schools were born "The state takes better care of its livestock than its children." -Mann

9. Common School Religious Conflict -the brainchild of Horrace Mann --He believed that education is the great equalizer of all. --He rigorously campaigned for tax supported schools, standardized textbooks, quality classrooms, and regulations and training for teachers. Mann was the man that got all of this done! -A growing number of immigrants into the country, namely Irish Catholics, refused to go to the tax supported, public, Protestant schools. They refused to send their children to schools where they would be "indoctrinated into the Protestant faith". -This led to each religion wanting their own schools that were paid for by taxes. -Protestants were not in favor of this because paying for all the separate religions to have their own school would take away funds from the Protestant schools.

10. Separation of Church and State • In 1840, public schools consisted of Protestant education • Catholics, Jews, and Presbyterians demanded their own funds for education • After heated debates, Protestant education was removed from the public schools and the Public School Society was replaced by the New York City Board of Education, an elected body Issue of Race • In the South, African Americans were punished for being educated • African Americans began to think of education as part of the freedom struggle • In the North, Frederick Douglas led a movement that called for an end to segregation in schools • After seeing the deplorable conditions of black schools, the school committee in Boston still took no action

11. Westward Expansion Groundwork for Integration •Schools for black students were poorly funded than schools for white students. •Robert Benjamin wanted his daughter to go to a better school, but was denied because of his race. He sued the state, and later led legislation reform. •His actions were the foundation for later Brown v. Board of Education. •After the Civil War ended in 1875, education became a valuable asset in new communities in western states. •Education became essential for the creation of new governments. •New states required free education in their state constitution to become a new state.

12. Improvements and Potential Women as Teachers • Spurred on by Catherine Beecher as means to give unmarried women a chance at a middle class occupation • Seen by many as an opportunity to create a workforce of cheap labor. Also perceived as naturally predisposed to working with young children. • Majority of all women teachers were trained in the East and worked in the West, almost as if teaching abroad. • 19th Century America led the world in equal opportunities for education as well as in educational achievement and research. • Black literacy grew between the end of the Civil War and the Twentieth Century from 5% to 70% in the United States.