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History of Education in the United States

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by Vishaal Kuruvanka
April 26th, 2022

To understand the history of education in the United States, we must closely study the history of the United States to understand the economic and political forces that shaped the current system. Most Americans born today believe that America always used to be the dominating world power but that is not the case. America’s rise only came in the beginning of the twentieth century and preceding that it was considered a fledgling country. Presciently, in the years preceding the civil war, many leaders sensed America’s rise due to the vast undiscovered landscape in the west, laden with numerous natural resources and the self-starting spirit that its people displayed. 

Beginning in the 1900s, America spearheaded public schooling and expanded it to levels never before seen around the world and ultimately changed the lives of the American people. The leaders during these times figured out how to increase the accessibility of education to students. As access to a basic high school education pervades our country today, we must now figure out how to optimize the educational outcomes for our students and make sure that we build a system that can bring out the full potential of our students. To do this, it is essential to understand how our schooling system got to where it is today. Studying our country’s rich history will allow us to see the intertwined nature of economic and political forces as well as see the patterns that emerge over the course of time. We may also be able to apply certain lessons that worked in previous decades, to today when thinking on how we may be able to fix our system. To that effect this essay is on the history of education within the US. The following is heavily researched and based on Goldin and Katz’s book, The Race between Education and Technology (TRET will be abbreviation) and material put out by the US Federal Government.

 

Early Republic

When the republic was formed, the framers knew of the importance of education and believed that it was a necessary part of a well functioning democracy. Although their initial efforts floundered for the most part, due to dearth of resources, the electorate pushed for public schooling so that their children could gain useful skills necessary for frontier life and business. Schools were usually small undertakings by the community where students aged 5 - 14 came to learn material (TRET 136). With no structure of grades that we see today, children aggregated in one classroom where a teacher would help the students advance in limited subject materials. These types of schools first arose in the Northeast and slowly trickled through the South up until the 1870s. Schools at this point were not free and parents had to pay for their children to receive an education. Funding for these schools was usually found through a mixture of local taxes, rate bills and federal funding(through land grants given to the local township)(TRET 140). Beginning as a small undertaking, these schools eventually grew and became systemized to teach subjects needed to succeed in the post civil war environment such as navigation, bookkeeping, commerce, english, mathematics and history. It is important to note that at this point there is very little federal involvement and thus the quality of schooling was based on the individuals in the community. As communities evolved and grew, parents petitioned for more education for their children so that they could advance past the meager lifestyles afforded by an agrarian life. Horace Mann, Secretary of Education in Massachusetts in 1848, who understood the importance of education not only to his local community but to the state and country, put forth arguments that covered the importance of education in molding the youth’s minds to make them productive actors in a capitalist society. Through time, as New Englanders proliferated across the greater United States, they sought to bring and recreate institutions such as schools and churches (TRET 139). The earliest high schools that prepared students for university were only reserved normally for the wealthy few and began in the late seventeenth century. I have listed some of the earliest highschools in the Eastern seaboard below.

 

Boston Latin School (Boston - 1635)

English Classical School (Boston - 1821)

Central High School (Philadelphia - 1838)

 

By 1860, there were over 320 high schools across the United States (TRET 159). From this history we can see that schooling in the United States increased over the course of time, because the electorate understood the enormous benefits that education had on their economic mobility for themselves and their republic. Because there were no clear rules or guidelines on setting up schools in the early republic, the decentralized nature of the education system allowed for schools to be built wherever constituents within the district could afford to pay for them. The decentralized nature also allowed for there to be competition between schools and allowed for schools to pop up wherever the need arose. In the beginning of the republic, this system was highly useful and efficient. The constant growth of public education intertwined with America’s diversifying industries paved the way for America to steward the world for the coming century.

The 1870s was the point in US history when the number of high schools began to rapidly increase (TRET 162).The reason behind this rapid expansion revolves around the evolving job market in the United States. After 1870, the US began to fulfill its destiny to become a self-sufficient manufacturing powerhouse that could produce goods at home to be traded abroad. This economic explosion marked the beginning of the shift from an agrarian lifestyle towards industrialization. Post civil war businessmen (Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, etc.), aided by the technological advancements of the telegraph and the railroad, pushed to create a bustling business atmosphere centered around manufacturing, refining and transportation. In the beginning of this boom, cheap labor was needed but as processes became increasingly automated, the level of education needed to work within industry increased. Thus the need for skilled workers to operate the technologies used within these new industries increased. 

 As the century turned and technology became more advanced, the utility of a high school education increased. A high school diploma endowed students with the basic knowledge of chemistry to use in mining and operating machinery in chemical plants. With a high school degree, an individual could use his basic understanding of physics to install electric devices in people’s homes. The increased education also allowed these students to work within office settings and perform tasks such as typing, clerking, booking, cashier, salesman, stenographer, etc (TRET 173). These mechanical tasks required that workers be educated enough to be able to read, write, and do basic mathematical functions. As we will see further, the rise of the industrial/business economy in America created significant demand for mechanically skilled workers. Compiled by Harvard Labor Historians, Katz and Goldin, companies looked for boys who had a high school diploma: 

 

The manager of the Deere Tractor Company in 1902 made it clear that he would “not take boys in the office unless they are at least high school graduates.” The head of the employment department at National Cash Register Company in Dayton, Ohio, noted in 1902 that: “The office boys must . . . have high school education, or at least must have had two years of such.” The General Electric Company, for example, required a high school diploma for young men who were being trained as draftsmen, designers, electrical and steam turbine testers, technical clerks, and manufacturing and erecting engineers in their apprentice program. The Twentieth Century Farmer noted, in 1905, that “it takes a better trained mind to be a successful farmer or business man today than it did even ten years ago. . . . The new conditions of life on the farm demand improvement in general education for the farm boy or girl.”

 

As American adults began to comprehend the benefits of their education, an emphasis on education emerged in newer generations, creating a self-fulfilling design that catalyzed the building of high schools across the country. This momentous experiment in public education was successful and serves as another example where America led the world in bold action to uplift the masses. For the time being, a high school degree gave the common American access to many different careers and incomes. The steady growth of the manufacturing sector coupled with increased graduation rates led to the rise of the middle class in America. As education and industry drove a wave of economic activation and enabled social mobility, the American public, young and old, grew inspired knowing they could lead better lives through industry and academic study. 

Through the 1910s high schools continued to increase exponentially throughout the country. Although there was significant demand for labor generated by the booming manufacturing sector, students by and far attended schools. Young adults became dedicated to schooling as they understood it was the primary means for advancement in their changing world. By the 1940s, before the onset of the second world war, the median youth had received a high school degree and 73 percent of students were enrolled in high school (TRET 195). As high school graduation rates increased, the fraction of students going for advanced education decreased. Although one of the reasons for graduating highschool was to go to college, many students stopped their education after graduating highschool because there was the ability to retain a high paying job without the need for higher education. 

Innovations in technology along with the formation and consolidation of large corporations cemented the US as an economic powerhouse. Due to design flaws in the financial system, the country overheated and crashed. President FDR was elected to redesign the corrosive system and in effect built many programs that Americans benefit from today. Through New Deal programs, more schools were built as public works projects. Many economists realized that if the country’s human capital kept increasing at the same rate then America would outgrow its European counterparts across the Atlantic Ocean. 

 This advancement of education allowed for the workforce to be able to work with new technology advancements and therefore increase economic output as a whole. America’s rising population coupled with the proliferation of high schools around the nation paved a path for the growing industrial economies to embrace new technologies and ultimately led to increased economic output. 

The increased count of educated individuals also directly helped with innovation as there was an increase of teachers, scientists, engineers and other highly educated individuals that were primarily involved with R&D and increased manufacturing output.  As the Educational advancements in the 20th century, by some estimates, accounted for 15 percent increase of labor productivity change. (HCC 41) 

It is appropriate here to speak on the enormous effects that education had on the US during its mobilization for entering the second world war. When pearl harbor happened, FDR called upon all US citizens to aid the US’s mobilization efforts. Because the US’s population was larger than it ever was before with higher levels of education, these productive individuals were able to increase manufacturing and production. This was highly impactful because the increased number of aircrafts, submarines and tanks along with weapon development, most notably the atomic bomb, was a turning point for the allies. The larger skilled workforce and increased push for scientific research at higher education institutions ultimately toppled the axis powers. The war exemplified the greatness of America, showing that with unity and increased knowledge of its people, the country served as a shining example of a well functioning democracy, high productivity and positive impact. 

 

Post WW2 and College

After world war two, the GI bill allowed for veterans to attend college with reduced tuition payments. In 1900 only 10 percent of the population had attended college but by 1950 50 percent had attended college. 4% of Americans born in 1900 would graduate college whereas by 1950 24% had graduated (TRET 233). The decentralized nature of the higher education system allowed for competition between both private and public institutions. Previous to 1900 if a student wanted to receive a higher education, they would look to go to school in Europe, but after 1950 the reverse happened. Because of the increasing numbers of universities, competition increased and students benefited from attending these institutions. Although the K-12 education system has declined in recent decades, the higher education system within the United States continues to attract top students across the world. 

An area that can also be discussed further upon is how industry helped shape public institutions of learning throughout the US. As Goldin and Katz both show us in their book, various states across the US were able to incorporate new public universities because they sought to train individuals to aid specific industries within their regions.  

 

“…the public sector often invested heavily in training and research in these industries. Wisconsin subsidized work on dairy products, Iowa on corn, Colorado and other western states on mining, North Carolina on tobacco, and Oklahoma and Texas on oil exploration and refining.”

 

This too is another example of how industry plays a role within increasing education standards where they are based. It is not surprising that the endowment of two of the largest universities in the state of texas are heavily invested within the oil and gas sector. In today’s age though, the advent of computers and the internet allows for work to be done remotely and as this shift continues, it will be important for the government to step in and maintain a way to keep higher public education costs relatively low. 

Although the number of students graduating highschool has increased steadily since the 1960s, the nature of work has changed. As seen through history, technology dictates the necessary education needed to work within society. Post world war 2, the academic community exploded with innovations, applying the scientific method and statistical tools to various fields. Additionally, the increasing rise of computational abilities by machines continued to increase. While the concept of a computer had been around since the 1840s, Alan Turing’s contributions to academic literature as well his work at Bletchley Park furiously advanced the nature of the computer. By the 1960s these machines were being worked on across universities and by the mid 1970s the personal computer revolution had begun. This byproduct of world war two would and has fundamentally changed the nature of how we work and live. 

The internet, one of the magnificent applications of the computer, arose in the 1960s through research in the department of defense and further commercialization occured in the 1990s. The internet was a new virtual network that allowed individuals to access more information than ever before. It completely changed the nature of all industries as information was able to travel more quickly and therefore productivity increased in all sectors. Computers and the internet have changed the nature of our society since the 1970s and it is important to incorporate the benefits that these innovations give us into our education system. As more information has become available to people with a touch of a button, it is important to keep this in mind when we talk about the design of education in a future essay. The American schooling system has continued to decline after the 1970s not because of a decline in students receiving high school diplomas but because of the lower applicability of the degree in securing a high paying job out of high school. As the job market became saturated with individuals with high school diplomas, college education became the benchmark for a modest means of employment. To be competitive, students turned to college to receive a higher education but tuition rates for colleges skyrocketed effectively closing the door for poor and low socioeconomic americans.

This simplified history of our education system shows the ingenuity that our leaders showed in growing out the foundation for our public education system but because technology continues to change and evolve, it is necessary to redesign the nature of the education received in classrooms to make our students ready for the new information age. It is now that we have this opportunity to redesign the education system to incorporate the technological changes that we have seen in the last 40 years. 

 

Federal Legislation Since 1960s

Federal legislation on the matter increased briefly through President Johnson’s Great Society package. President Johnson, being a teacher in various parts of Texas, saw himself the great power that education holds. With this experience in mind, he wanted to increase the educational opportunities for students across the nation, irrespective of where they lived. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was the largest action taken by the federal government towards alleviating education disparities between different socioeconomic communities. As said by the USDOE: 

 

Students from low income households are “three times as likely to be low achievers if they attend high-poverty schools as compared to low-poverty schools.

 

While this federal act determined funding for schooling, it still relegated the standards control to the states allowing them to determine standards. Although there were other smaller pieces of federal legislation that altered title 1, the next largest leap within the bounds of federal legislation came with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act under President Bush in 2001. The NCLB act was monumental in that it instituted the need for states to come up with standards and then had to take nationwide standardized assessments to test whether students were hitting those standards. As it became difficult for states to pass these national standardized exams (partially because the states set the educational standards themselves), there was a major bipartisan push (Every Student Succeeds Act, 2015) to push back the standard testing to the states and allow them to test which removes full accountability from the federal government. This last piece of federal legislation pushes the US in the wrong direction because it removes the high stakes testing from classrooms, which is essential to see what students are learning, precisely when our rivals across the world are doing it. 

Other nations followed suit with increased investments into the education system and have seen similar growth trends and have caught up and in some instances surpassed the US’s educational achievement. As technology has continued to advance we have seen a sharp decline in manufacturing and service jobs that can be automated. These jobs originally required a high school diploma but because of the highly mechanical nature of the job were the first ones to become automated. There have been many propositions to combat the loss of jobs but as we can see the similar parallels between the early twentieth and twenty first century, an increased access to a higher quality education would alleviate some of the tensions that have arisen. Not only in expanding access but also a reshaping of the subjects that are taught in today’s classrooms. As we can see in the early twentieth century, increased access to a high school education across the growing nation allowed for individuals to attend school and then gain employment with jobs that interact with primitive technologies. Now as the level of technology has risen, the education needed to work with these technologies has increased. 

This is not necessarily something new that has occurred in American history. Similar advances in technology like electricity, steam engines and other technologies that changed the way that people lived have profoundly changed the way people lived. The computer has definitely made tasks quicker, provided entertainment and allows for the free flow of information more than ever before. We need innovators not factory workers. As Thomas Jefferson envisioned for our country to allow for people to become agents of their own fate through an agricultural lifestyle, now they must become masters of their own fate through the utilization of technology. The decentralized nature of our education system has been around since its inception, but as the times and technology evolve, our education system too must learn how to grow and adopt measures that ensure that our students can reach their full potential. Either a high school education should be redesigned to be able to acquire a high paying job, or access to higher education must be widened. To this end, the next essay will speak on the intertwined nature of capitalism, democracy and education.

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