Social History of American Education

Throughout the birth, growth, and development of our nation's school system, social and cultural factors have contributed significantly to the process of American education. Throughout history there have been times during which great social change brought about equally great changes in education; likewise, there have been periods in which education changes have left indelible imprints upon society. This phenomenon is particularly true as education has come to be viewed as an institutional means by which knowledge and mores pertaining to the welfare of society are transmitted from teacher to pupil.

Keywords Common School; Dame School; Education Reform; Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA); Industrialization; Mann, Horace; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); National Organization for Women (NOW); No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB); Reconstruction; Segregation; Social History

Overview

On July 28, 1787, Benjamin Rush stood before visitors at the Young Ladies Academy of Philadelphia and addressed the crowd on the importance and manner of educating women in the new American Republic. A man esteemed as ahead of his time and, of his own admission, out of step with popular and fashionable habits of thinking, Rush decried then-current perceptions that relegated the value of women to the level of "personal charms and ornamental accomplishments" and praised instead the woman who was learned in matters of business, philosophy, history, and geography (Rush, 1787, sec. 9).

While domestic responsibilities were widely understood to comprise a core area of function for women, these did not preclude a liberal education and, indeed, Rush noted that they actually required it. For example, bookkeeping and accounting knowledge would be useful to a woman should her husband pass away and she be left to oversee his estate. Education in the philosophy and principles of liberty and government would enable women to raise well educated sons, and even such studies as astronomy and chemistry could prove useful to women.

Framed against the backdrop of early American cultural norms, Rush's remarks provide evidence that even in the early days of our nation's history, social perceptions and realities affected the process and practice of American education. From gender roles and racial discrimination to class inequities and demographic differences, social factors form an intricate part of the development of education in America, and education within American culture.

Perspectives on Schools & Society

In Education and Social Change: Themes in the History of American Education, author John Rury asks the question, "Do schools change society, or does society change the schools?" (Rury, 2002, p. 1). If education is a passive endeavor, then societal reforms and changes will eventually have an effect on education. If, however, education is an active pursuit, then its product of ideas and theories will, of necessity, affect society. According to Rury, the chain of influence leads both ways. Throughout history there have been times during which great social change brought about equally great changes in education; likewise, there have been periods in which education changes have left indelible imprints upon society.

This phenomenon is particularly true as education has come to be viewed as an institutional means by which knowledge and mores pertaining to the welfare of society are transmitted from teacher to pupil. Rury writes that education "has contributed to economic growth and political change, and it has helped to forge a national identity from the country's rich variety of cultural and social groups." Conversely, education itself "has been influenced by changes in the economy, the political system, and other facets of the social structure" (Rury, 2002, p. 4). As examples of ways in which society has changed schooling, Rury points to the impact of urbanization and industrialization upon school demographics and curricula. Inarguably, schools have often been a catalyst for social change; two examples of this being in the areas of women's education and African-American education.

Several years prior to Rury, Nasaw (1981) arrived at a similar conclusion regarding the interconnectivity of education changes and social reforms. Nasaw focuses on three periods of American history which he views as landmarks for American education: the pre-Civil War antebellum decades, which witnessed the reformation of "common schools;" the turn of the 20th Century, which saw the expansion of public education to "children of the plain people;" and the decades following World War II, during which education, and particularly higher education, witnessed the inclusion of sectors of society typically excluded as a result of race, class, and gender (Nasaw, 1981, p. 4).

Taking each in turn, Nasaw writes:

In each of these periods,' [sic] the quantitative expansion of the student population was matched by a qualitative transformation of the enlarged institutions. The common schools of the mid 1800s were charged with re-forming the moral character of the children of failed artisans and farmers from both sides of the Atlantic; the expanded high schools at the turn of the century with preparing their poor, working-class, and immigrant adolescents for future lives in city and factory; the "open-access" public institutions in the postwar period with moving their students off the unemployment lines and into lower-level white-collar and paraprofessional positions (Nasaw, 1981, p. 4).

Prior to the appearance of the first public school in America, social norms in the New World dictated the delivery of education from one generation to the next. The Old World of England from which the colonists had emigrated had been characterized by rules of propriety and hierarchy, even within the family unit. English society placed high value upon authority and tradition, and this value affected the manner of English child-rearing.

Rury notes that in the New World, however, the colonists soon came to embrace a new societal order, void of many of the traditions and hierarchical structures of English society. As part of this new social order, Rury notes that parents did not so much "dictate" to their children as "educate" them (Rury, 2002, p. 25). In colonial America, the primary avenue of education was found in the home, with young children learning the basics of reading and writing at the feet of their mothers.

Yet, even in the New World, distinct societies existed, and the cultural norms of each society affected the education of the youth. Geographically, for example, Rury notes that historians divide the colonies into three regions:

• The agricultural South, made up of Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, and the Carolinas

• The diverse Middle Colonies, comprised of the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and New York

• The New England region, which spread north of the Middle Colonies

Further Insights

Colonial & Revolutionary American Education

The New England Colonies

The development of formal schooling occurred first in New England, and by far the New England colonies witnessed its greatest early development. The establishment of Dame schools in colonial New England allowed young children to be trained in religion and basic academic pursuits under the watchful eye of a schoolteacher. As New England Puritans believed firmly in the importance of learning to read Scripture, Dame schools were open to children regardless of sex. However, here is where equal access for young New England girls ended.

As children completed their time in Dame schools, gender and class differences began to affect their later education. Young boys had three choices for education following Dame school, and the option parents selected depended both upon vocational prospects and class standing. Sons whose parents were of a certain social standing and who aimed for their sons to attend college - and most likely enter the ministry or positions of civic leadership - were sent to Latin Grammar Schools to further their reading capabilities. Some families chose the monthly cost of apprenticeship and paired their sons with a craftsman to learn the skills of his trade. Finally, at no cost to the parents, a son could remain at home and be trained by his father in his occupation.

For girls, however, choices were much more limited. Since they were not permitted to attend the Latin Grammar Schools, they were also not expected to attend college or to enter positions of leadership in church or state. In earliest days, girls were also precluded from pursuing apprenticeships. But by the mid-seventeenth century, apprenticeships were being offered to poor girls as well, so they would be able to obtain some form of accommodation.

The Middle & Southern Colonies

Schools were less plentiful in the Middle and Southern colonies. Rury (2002) attributes this to the link between religion and education. By virtue of their strongly religious culture, the New England colonies placed more emphasis on formal education. This did not mean that Middle and Southern colonies sustained an ill-educated culture, particularly when it came to literacy. Research indicates that formal schooling was but one avenue towards literacy in colonial America. For those colonists who boasted a certain level of wealth, private tutors represented another avenue, and Rury notes that in the South particularly, families of means often hired tutors to instruct their children in reading (Rury, 2002, p. 37). While the importance of monetary standing for access to literacy education was not always a deciding factor, along with gender, it did prove indicative of who was educated and who was not.

The literacy statistics are interesting … but difficult to interpret. Not surprisingly, in all colonies literacy was highest for those with property and wealth, and it was considerably higher for men than it was for women. But literacy rates among the poor were highest in puritan New England, a fact that seems to support arguments for the importance of religion and schooling (Rury, 2002, p. 38).

Moreover, much education in colonial America occurred informally and was provided by parents and through local churches (Rury, 2002).

African American Education

If schooling for white children in colonial America was less than guaranteed, for black children, and particularly slave children in the Southern colonies, it was actively discouraged. Many slave owners believed that educating slaves would increase the likelihood of rebellion, and Georgia and South Carolina went so far as to enact laws which criminalized teaching slaves to read and write. Nevertheless, missionaries attempted to combat this trend by setting up and administering schools for slaves. In addition, freed blacks and even some masters undertook to teach reading and writing to slaves. Black children from Northern and Middle colonies often fared better than their Southern counterparts, and in 1787, the New York Manumission Society established the New York African Free School to teach values and morals to the children of former slaves.

After the Revolution

The American Revolution and creation of the new republic began a philosophical shift in the aim of education from training a child to become a moral adult to training the child to become an effective citizen. Although the formation of a national education system still lay years in the future, this change led to an increase in government interest in establishing a system of public education. Preparing young men to lead the new republic required that women be versed enough in literacy and principles of republican government to transmit this knowledge to their sons. Hence, the Revolution brought about the beginnings of a change in opinion regarding women's education, and this ideological change would become apparent in practice in the 19th Century.

Nineteenth Century: Age of Industrialization

The 19th Century was an age of industrialization and urbanization in the new nation. Over the course of the century, manufacturing as a percentage of the gross national product grew from 5% to more than 50% (Rury, 2002, p. 61). Moreover, the increase in factories coupled with the inflow of immigrants resulted in the burgeoning of American cities. With increased industrialization came an increased emphasis on education, and schooling began to take on a focus of preparing students to enter the workforce and become productive members of society. Nevertheless, this trend did not translate into equal educational experiences for all children, as poorer children of factory workers often served as child labor at the expense of attending school (Rury, 2002).

Common Schools

This century of change also saw the introduction of the nation's first public schools, or "common schools" as they were then termed. Originally begun as "charity schools" to provide an education for poorer children, public schools came to be under the purview of local board or government entities (Rury, 2002, p. 65). While common schools found their most welcoming home in cities and urban centers in the early part of the century, in the rural countryside, education reform was slower to take hold. By the mid-19th Century the common school movement had taken hold, and the years 1830 through 1860 are now known as the "age of the common school" (Rury, 2002, p. 73).

The common school found one of its greatest champions in education reform leader Horace Mann, and his efforts in pursuit of class and gender equality in education brought lasting effects. A social activist, Mann saw common schools as a mechanism for balancing social and economic inequalities between rich and poor. Possibly equating common schools with charity schools, the wealthy often elected to educate their children privately. Recognizing that the common school movement would not succeed without support from the wealthy, Mann set out to convince the well-to-do of the benefits of public schooling.

Women's Education

Mann became a staunch proponent of women's education. Yet, his advocacy for women stemmed from his belief that their nature lent itself to good teaching. Mann promoted the development of women as teachers more than advocated for their absolute equality with men in the educational setting. Nevertheless, the 19th Century represented a time of great advancement for women in American education. Rury notes that by the turn of the 20th Century, women had not only closed much of the educational gap between themselves and their male counterparts, their literacy rates actually exceeded those of men. Moreover, by 1900, American high schools boasted more females than males (Rury, 2002, p. 98). Noticeably, this trend was limited mostly to white women and, within this demographic, to women from the middle and upper social classes of society.

African American Education

The 19th Century also witnessed significant advancements in education for African-Americans. Particularly following the Civil War and emancipation, former slaves enthusiastically pursued schooling. In the post-Civil War years, the South witnessed the starting of thousands of schools, and by the end of the 1800's, more than two-thirds of the southern black population was literate (Rury, 2002, p. 111). Their road was not an easy one, and deep-seated racism meant that schools were almost always segregated. Moreover, the collapse of Southern reconstruction meant the stagnation of many of the advances that had been made in the realm of African-American education, and not until well into the twentieth century would equal education for black Americans achieve full realization.

Twentieth Century: Age of Progressivism

John Dewey & Progressive Education

The early 20th Century saw the continued acceleration in the rate of industrialization in America, and along with this came a significant development in educational philosophy. Credited to educational psychologist and reformer John Dewey, Progressive Education was broad in scope yet encompassed both a new emphasis on children's learning styles and relation to society and a focus on education as a whole as an important component of the larger economic order.

African American Education

Inequities persisted as well in African-American education. While there had been progress in the establishment of black elementary schools, the number of secondary schools for African-Americans remained quite limited. In addition, where black secondary schools did exist, the quality of education provided within them often lagged behind white schools, with the end result being that black students often did not have access to the training that was so necessary to compete economically within the nation's workforce.

By far one of the most pivotal events in the educational evolution of the 20th Century was the Second World War. Following President Truman's desegregation of the US Armed Forces soon after the war, the discrepancy between military desegregation and educational segregation became embarrassingly difficult to justify. In a bold move, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) undertook a judicial challenge to the practice of racial segregation. In the 1954 landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Court sided with the NAACP and ruled that educational segregation stood in violation of the United States Constitution. While altering public sentiment proved a much more lengthy process than issuing a judicial order, the Brown ruling set the wheels of change irreversibly in motion. Despite the Court's decision, however, racial integration in education was far from immediate, and segregation in practice persisted into the next decades. As a result, additional federal court decisions in the 1960's and 1970's provided legal requirements to reduce racial segregation.

The Elementary & Secondary Education Act

In the latter half of the 20th Century, class inequalities as they related to education also gained increased attention. As funding for public schooling remained largely local, wealthier areas by default were able to provide greater resources for their schools than poorer areas. In response, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965. Intended to help rectify funding inequalities, Title I of the ESEA provided for federal dollars to go to public education for children affected by poverty. The role of Title I funding for education continues today within the No Child Left Behind Act, the present-day version of ESEA.

Women's Education

Led by reformers such as Jane Addams, women gained a new level of equity during the progressive era; yet this was juxtaposed against the concurrent development of courses of study both stemming from and leading to traditional women's roles. For example, this period saw the development of home economics courses as well as vocational training in clerical duties, such as typing and stenography. While most schools were coeducational in attendance, there often existed internal gender segregation among the programs of study.

Concurrent with racial and economic developments in education in the latter half of the 1900's, women's issues also gained increased attention, and advocates of the feminist movement began to criticize curricula that perpetuated gender-based stereotypes. To address this issue, in 1967, the National Organization for Women (NOW) called for "equal and unsegregated education" to be realized in both academic and athletic school pursuits (Rury, 2002, p. 196). Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 required that, in any programs supported by federal dollars, educational institutions not discriminate based on gender.

The significant 20th Century advances in race, gender, and class equity in education notwithstanding, deep-seated prejudices and traditions developed over centuries often take longer than decades to reverse. While the social development of education boasts great progress, it also holds promise for great future advancement. Indeed, the social history of American education is far from complete, and it remains for future generations to continue the story begun centuries ago.

Terms & Concepts

Common School: A nineteenth century public school. The term "common" was used to indicate, among other things, the provision of education to all students regardless of social class.

Dame School: Type of school for young children popular in colonial and early America. Taught by a woman who was often a widow and stressing reading over other subjects.

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA): Federal education legislation enacted in 1965; among other provisions, the Act provides funding for elementary and secondary education.

Industrialization: The process by which industry is created. In American history, the term often refers to the later years of the Industrial Revolution, c. 1850-1900.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons (NAACP): The oldest civil rights organization in the United States; the NAACP's stated mission includes working for political, educational, social, and economic equal rights.

National Organization for Women (NOW): The largest feminist activist organization in the United States; NOW's stated purpose includes achieving equal rights for women.

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB): Federal legislation reauthorizing several federal education programs for the purpose of improving educational standards and accountability and providing parents with additional options in school choice.

Reconstruction: The period from 1865-1877 during which the United States attempted to rebuild and reintegrate the former Confederate states back into the Union.

Segregation: The act of separation based on race, class, or ethnicity; often used in reference to educational segregation between black and white students in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Social History: The study of history within the light of social trends, reforms, and culture.

Bibliography

Barger, R. (Ed.). (2004). History of American education web project. Retrieved April 7, 2007, from http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/

Bremner, R. (Ed.). (1970). Negro and Indian Children. Children and youth in America: A documentary history. 1. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Retrieved April 5, 2007, from http://www.h-net.org/~child/Bremner/TOC.htm

Donato, R., & Hanson, J.S. (2012). Legally white, socially "Mexican" the politics of de jure and de facto school segregation in the American Southwest. Harvard Educational Review, 82, 202-225. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=77049548&site=ehost-live

Glenn, W.J. (2012). School resegregation: A synthesis of the evidence. Educational Forum, 76, 282-298. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=77384254&site=ehost-live

Nasaw, D. (1981). Schooled to order: A social history of public schooling in the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieve April 3, 2007, from http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=61723639

Rury, J. (2002). Education and social change: Themes in the history of American education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved April 3, 2007, from http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=104343399

Rush, B. (1787). Thoughts on female education. In N. Desmarais & J. McGovern (Eds.), The essential documents of American history. Retrieved April 03, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=21213333&site=ehost-live

Sass, E. (2007). American educational history: A hypertext timeline. Retrieved April 7, 2007, from http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/educationhistorytimeline.html

Ward Randolph, A.L. (2012). “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness”: Ethel Thompson Overby and democratic schooling in Richmond, Virginia, 1910–1958. Educational Studies, 48, 220-243. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=75253602&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading

Altenbaugh, R. (2002). The American people and their education: A social history Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Labaree, D. (2005). Progressivism, schools and schools of education: An American romance. Paedagogica Historica, 41 (1/2), 275-288. Retrieved April 07, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=16573272&site=ehost-live

McClellan, B. & Reese, W. (1988). The social history of American education. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Mirel, J. (2002). Civic education and changing definitions of American identity, 1900-1950. Educational Review, 54 , 143-152. Retrieved April 07, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=6687764&site=ehost-live

Parkerson, D. & Parkerson, J. (2001). Transitions in American education: A social history of teaching. Oxford: RoutledgeFalmer.