Old Deluder Satan Law:
Massachusetts Bay: 1642
South Carolina Law: 1740
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG): 1649
John Eliot was responsible for starting this organization because of his work with Native Americans and trying to proselytize them. He used education as a means of “civilizing them” and “helping” them to assimilate to the American way of life. In conjunction with the SPG many other religious and civic minded organizations also offered education to not only Native Americans, but also to African slaves in the colonies. Quakers were heavily involved in educating Africans (Gaither, 2011).
Massachusetts Bay was the first of the colonies to pass a law mandating children have schooling, whether it is from your parents or a hired teacher. The colonial government used a group known as " the selectmen," who were elected leaders to enforce this mandate. They were to make sure children were being taught "to read and understand the principles of religion and capital laws of the country" (Gaither, 2011).
South Carolina is the first state to pass a law against teaching Africans to read. Due to this other Southern states followed suit and also passed similar laws. Even though these laws were passed “some free Blacks and African slaves are able to learn to read through clandestine means” (Gaither, 2011).
The History of American Education:
A timeline of historic and current events
According to this law, "Satan, in the guise of the Catholic Church, in the past kept people ignorant of scriptures by making sure it was read only in Latin (which Catholics continued to do in the Mass until the 1960s). Massachusetts court said Satan wanted to use ignorance and illiteracy to keep Christians from reading the Bible and hence understanding the doctrines it taught" (Gaither, 2011). Essentially the law held that towns of 50 or more families had to hire a teacher, and if your town grew to 100 families or more you were then required to open a formal Latin Grammar school. This would have been set up tp "train an elite group of boys for Harvard College, which would equip them to become ministers" (Gaither, 2011). All those failing to comply had to pay a fine.
The Land Ordinances: 1785
Women's Schools: 1800
Indian Boarding School: 1754
Blue-Backed Speller:1783
Moor’s Indian Charity school is the first boarding school for Native Americans. It was started by Eleazar Wheelock. This school did not do very well and eventually closed. But oddly enough Wheelock went on to start Dartmouth College (still a prestigious college to date), and left the Indian boarding schools to the Quakers and Morovians who were able to establish schools that lasted longer and had some successes (Gaither, 2011).
Historically women were not used as teachers until the mid-1700s and even then it was only in what were known as “women’s schools.” These were built after the model of the Dame schools during colonial times and were used mostly to teach women how to be women. Eventually women were teaching in coeducational Summer schools, and then moved onto mainstream Winter schools that had up until that point only been taught by men (Gaither, 2011).
Noah Webster designed the first spelling book during a time of “an explosion of nationalistic textbooks” thanks to the American Revolution. Webster sold a whopping 1.5 million copies and was responsible for the differences between American English and British English (Gaither, 2011).
From 1785-1786 the federal government uses a large resource (land) to help towns fund the building of schools. “The Land Ordinances articulate federal endorsement of schooling and provide land grants to erect schools. Proceeds from the sale of land from the 16th section of every 36-section township are set aside to fund the construction of school buildings” (Gaither, 2011).
Computer Technology: 2010
Personal computers, more than any other technological advance thus far, have changed the way teachers are able to teach and the amount of information that is available to them and their classroom with the touch of a button. Computers have helped to make the educational world smaller and have allowed students to get a bigger world view. “A nationwide 2010 study found that 97% of public school teachers had at least one computer in their classrooms. The computer’s nearly universal reach into modern life, its programming flexibility, and its ability to promote individualized instruction have made it perhaps the most successful classroom technological innovation since the chalkboard” (Gray, Thomas, and Lewis, 2010 as cited by Gaither, 2011).
IQ tests are used to show not only someone’s deficits in learning but also someone’s strengths in learning. So Guy M. Henry coins the term “gifted” referring to children whose IQ tests scores shows “exceptional ability.” Because of this some schools offer “special opportunity classes” in order to challenge gifted children. Unfortunately, as late as 1940 only 93 classes are offered in the whole country (Gaither, 2011).
Plessy v. Ferguson: 1893
Common Textbooks: 1836
Plessy v. Ferguson was a Supreme Court judgment on the constitutionality of segregation. The Supreme Court found that “segregation by race was constitutional as long as conditions were equal” (Gaither, 2011). This ruling did nothing for causing equality especially in the South were public education was far from being equal.
The Market Revolution: 1815-1846
McGuffey Reader series was the most popular reader of its time. Beating out other books like history texts, geographies, biographies, and other books created for common schools of the day. I think its popularity came from the content of the reader. They “stayed away from controversial subject matter that might offend different religions, political factions, or Protestant sects, instead sticking to the common faith of Pan-Protestant Anglo-America, celebrating the founding of America and urging children to have good morals” (Gaither, 2011).
During this time in history “island communities of subsistence farmers were gradually linked together by vast technology of transportation that transformed the American countryside into a commercial, profit driven system” (Gaither, 2011). This made farmers quite rich and so they used these new found resources to fund public projects like building schools.
Gifted Students: 1920
The Cold War: 1947
Japanese Interment Camps: 1942-1945
World War II: 1941
Defining General Welfare: 1936 to 1937
IQ tests are used to show not only someone’s deficits in learning but also someone’s strengths in learning. So Guy M. Henry coins the term “gifted” referring to children whose IQ tests scores shows “exceptional ability.” Because of this some schools offer “special opportunity classes” in order to challenge gifted children. Unfortunately, as late as 1940 only 93 classes are offered in the whole country (Gaither, 2011).
During this time approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans are made to live in ‘War Relocation Camps’ because of the possibility of disloyalty to the US and allegiance to Japan (our enemy at the time). There were many children in these camps and the US felt that they should still be educated during this time. So they set about having “federal authorities teach English, Christian religion, and American habits and manners” (Gaither, 2011).
At the end of World War II the Cold war begins between the United Sates and the Communist Soviet Union. Education is effected because of competition and tensions between our two countries. “New Math” is implemented in the hopes of raising our standards. “Efforts to locate and train pupils who could become leaders in science and the military are placed as high priority” (Gaither, 2011).
The Smith-Hughes Act: 1917
This is yet another Supreme Court decision in the cases of United States v. Butler and Helvery v. Davis which finds “the ‘general welfare’ language of the Constitution can be defined by Congress which then has the right to tax and spend to support programs included in this definition. While Congress itself does not in the 1930s explicitly include public education in its definition of general welfare, these cases make room for it to do so later, granting Constitutional legitimacy to future federal efforts to spend tax dollars on and eventually regulate, public education” (Gaither, 2011).
December 7, 1941 the United Sates enters war with Japan. Because of this, the face of education is changed. Teachers enlist or are drafted, women join the factories, and young men quit school to sign up to go to war. Building of schools is no longer a top priority at this time and all resources are spent on the war effort (Gaither, 2011).
This act is passed by Congress as one of the “first federal initiatives to provide direct funding for public education” (Gaither, 2011). This laws price tag was $1.7 million which was to go to high schools to enable vocational training across the country. “Though the Constitution gives Congress no explicit charge to concern itself with education, legislators rationalize the measure as a matter of U.S. economic preparedness” (Gaither, 2011).
Computer Technology: 2010
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: 1990
PL 94-142: 1975
Devotional Prayer and Bible Reading In Schools: 1962-1963
Little Rock Nine: 1957
This is the revision of PL 94-142 focusing more on the individual and less on the disability. “Subsequent revisions in 1997 and 2005 move the nation’s special education system toward increased inclusion and clarify such concepts as ‘free appropriate public education,’ ‘due process,’ ‘individualized education plan,’ and ‘least restrictive environment’” (Gaither, 2011).
Brown v. Board of Education: 1954
Personal computers, more than any other technological advance thus far, have changed the way teachers are able to teach and the amount of information that is available to them and their classroom with the touch of a button. Computers have helped to make the educational world smaller and have allowed students to get a bigger world view. "A nationwide 2010 study found that 97% of public school teachers had at least computer in their classrooms. The computer's nearly universal reach into modern life, its programming flexibility, and its ability to promote individualized instruction have made it perhaps the most successful classroom technological innovation since the chalkboard" (Gray, Thomas, and Lewis, 2010 as cited by Gaither, 2011).
“ Two successive Supreme Court decisions strike down devotional prayer and Bible reading in public schools as violations of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause” (Gaither, 2011). This along with other changes in society, such as evolution being taught in schools, racial integration and fears brought about by the Cold War, lead many “fundamentalists” to no longer support public education and instead turn their support to private schools.
This law was passed by Congress and was known as “The Education for All Handicapped Children Act.” This law reversed segregated schooling/institutions for children with disabilities. But it also promised that the federal government would fund up to 40 percent of the State’s cost to implement this new law. Unfortunately, the highest level of federal funding for this law was never more than 10 percent, making PL 94-142 a “classic example of the unfunded mandate” (Gaither, 2011).
National Defense Education Act: 1958
“The U.S. Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education, rules unanimously that racially segregated public schools are unconstitutional. The decision overturns the 1898 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which had determined that segregation was constitutional so long as facilities were equal” (Gaither, 2011). Regardless of this unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court most Southern states remain segregated.
This act is passed by Congress after many failed attempts of the past ten years. The NDEA is a “landmark federal public education spending law” that passes in no small part due to the Soviets launch of Sputnik. This provides its “backers with enough momentum to pass a law providing public schools with categorical aid for scientific and technical education, as well as several other initiatives” (Gaither, 2011).
Little Rock, Arkansas allows 9 African American high school students to attend Central High School (an all-white school). This causes massive riots and violence to break out because many Southerners still did not agree with desegregation. These 9 were brave young men and women who risked their lives so that equality would be something experienced by all children (Gaither, 2011).