EDF 1005 Reflection Paper #20

Jackie Lawrence
EDF 1005
Reflection Paper #20

Our founding fathers ingeniously built a system of democracy for America, in which equality and freedom were fundamental principles. Their ideologies have impacted us throughout history, influencing our system of government and our methods of educating the youth. Up until the 1850’s, the government had little to no involvement with the American educational system; it was almost purely democratic. Standards, financing, control of subjects studied, teacher guidelines, and textbook choices were all up to the people in the community. Secondary schools were known as academies, which were also run by private boards and financed through private endowment and/or tuition fees. Citizens viewed these schools as “public” since they weren’t owned and operated by the state. However, academies closely resembled what we now know as private schools. Because of their democratic nature, the public not only supported the growth of academies, but demanded it. Between 1800 and 1840, literacy in the North grew to over 90%, proving private education’s success rate. During this time, state governments actively encouraged the development of these decentralized schools through grants of land or money. They were more than happy to hand the burden of managing education over to somebody else. Meanwhile, back in Europe, governments in a variety of countries were beginning to take more control in regulating and centralizing education. Holland initiated the trend in 1806, and state-controlled education ideas reached America by 1817. A group of people from Boston felt that many parents were too poor to pay their children’s tuition, and government based schools were the answer to the problem. Research was conducted, and in reality, 96% of children in Boston already attended school, in spite of the tuition fees parents were forced to pay. However, there is no such thing as perfection. Differences of opinion concerning religion, compulsory attendance, funding, and concentration of subject areas led to many reforms. Eventually, governmental control increased, and today it dominants most aspects of how public schools are run and operated.