Margaret Mead once said that people should never doubt that a small team of committed and thoughtful citizens can change society and the world. Indeed, the notion is the only thing that ever happens. The educational foundations in the United States evaluate the literary institutions, policies, philosophies as well as the informal and formal education during the 19 and 20th century. The period was filled with numerous changes in the education system particularly those related to minority groups. The variations led to a trifold transformation in learning in the United States that educates citizens through a democratic procedure, creates a stable workforce and productive economy, and assimilates foreigners into the American language and culture. This essay contemplates on the changes that took place in the American education system from the late 19th century to the mid-1960s.
Schools in the United States have often been sites of linguistic, racial, and political conflicts between the Whites and minority groups. The society witnessed considerable shifts economically, socially, and politically through the Civil War, World Wars, and Great Depression. Various policies such as the Affirmation Act, Higher Learning Law, GI rule, amongst other have instigated some of the transformations in the educational systems. The cases taken to the Supreme Court such as the ones of Brown v the Education Board has also assisted the course. The ideology presented by the changes is to end the discrimination of minority groups in attaining education and other public services. Historically, much of the learning in the country was distinguished based on races. Institutions that attempted to enforce integration such as Noyes Academy faced tremendous opposition. The minority groups such as Latinos and African Americans received little or no formal learning prior to the Civil War. Very few Blacks in the Northern region managed to become literate. In the Southern section, slavery was legal, and some laws prevented the African Americans from receiving an education. A few learned to write or speak on their terms or through generous masters or playmates. But for most of them, education was a foreign aspect (UC Office of the President, par.5).
The learning institutions for the colored people were managed by the Whites to ensure that the Blacks did not receive an adequate education. White children got the best learning opportunities due to the prevailing perception of White Supremacy at the time. During the era of Reconstruction, a group of White Republicans and freedmen in the Southern region passed legislations that gave room for public education. A bureau known as Freedmen was established by military agents to assist in the Reconstruction. They set up various schools for the Black people and offered them protection. By the late 19th century, literacy levels amongst the minority groups had risen to more than 50 percent. Many higher learning facilities such as the Booker T Institute and Northern missionary schools enabled Blacks to further their studies. Even though the African-American community began to challenge White Supremacy policies, their efforts were not recognized by the Supreme Court (TG Research and Analytical Services, 31).
The Supreme Tribunal was the only institution that could nullify the laws that prohibited the minority groups from accessing education. The case of Ferguson v Plessy in the court maintained segregated learning facilities for each ethnicity as long as they received access to quality education. Unfortunately, very few Blacks acquired quality learning opportunities. They languished for many decades from dilapidated institutions, deficient textbooks, and inadequate funding. In 1914, a philanthropist known as Julius Rosenwald created a fund to add to the local contributions and build better facilities for the minority groups. He stimulated the construction of approximately 5000 schools in the North and South. The Civil Rights Union also helped to publicize the unfairness of segregation. In 1954, the case of the Board of Education v Brown in the Supreme Tribunal opened the eyes of the legislators, and they declared separate institutions were unconstitutional and inherently unequal (Laguardia and Wagner Archives, par.3).
The announcement by the Supreme Court made the segregated schools in the South vanish in the 1970s. The integration of learning facilities has been a contracted procedure with outcomes being affected by migration, the disappearance of factory jobs, and the suburban sprawl. Although a court order was provided, the assimilation of the first Black students into a White school encountered a lot of opposition. In 1957, African Americans were integrated into Little Rock’s Central High School, but the process was so intense it has to be conducted by Federal troops. The president at the time Eisenhower used the National Guard to coerce the governor of the area to accept the desegregation. The reformists were united by a collective vision of ensuring that every kid acquired a good education and was not left behind. The education system would make sure that they received the appropriate learning opportunities until the level they desired (TG Research and Analytical Services, 47).
Leaders were greatly concerned that people in America were not receiving adequate skills that could develop the country’s economy. With the continued desegregation of schools, more people from minority groups got the chance to join the labor force providing a stream of new concepts and ideas for the business sector. The supremacists faced criticism from humanitarian and civil movements because of their primitive values. Many policies also assisted in alleviating the suffering of the Blacks and Latinos such as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Legislation or GI Bill of 1944. The act almost came not to pass due to conflicting opinions (U.S Department of Veteran Affairs, par.2). Its enactment led to various benefits for war veterans such as proper housing with the essential development being cash payments to sustain the education of their families.
The Higher Education Act also transformed the U.S by providing financial assistance to all the students in colleges. It was instituted by President Lyndon in 1965 as part of a domestic agenda. The higher learning institutions also refer to the law of Affirmative Action in giving admission opportunities for individuals that were historically excluded such as minorities and women. The policy grants special consideration towards the disadvantaged in education and employment. The California Proposition 209 barred the government facilities from using sex and ethnicity to prevent different people from accessing public education, employment, and contracting (U.S Department of Veteran Affairs, par.4). Full parity and equality are yet to be obtained in the United States with a few conservatives holding on to their traditional perceptions and more schools continuing to undergo desegregation. Fortunately, a level of technical equality was attained by 1970 in the education sector.
Works Cited
Laguardia and Wagner Archives. Investing in Futures: Public Education in America. Web. Retrieved January 31, 2016 from http://www.cuny.edu/site/cc/higher-education/gi- bill.html, 2007.
TG Research and Analytical Services. Opening the Doors to Higher Education: Perspectives on the Higher Education Act 40 Years Later. Web. Retrieved January 31, 2016 from https://www.tgslc.org/pdf/HEA_History.pdf, 2005.
UC Office of the President. The California Master Plan for Higher Education in Perspective. Web. Retrieved January 31, 2016 from http://www.ucop.edu/acadinit/mastplan/mpperspective.htm, 2007.
U.S Department of Veteran Affairs. Education and Training. Web. Retrieved January 31, 2016 from http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/history.asp, 2013.
