The main focus of this paper is discussing the stages through which the American education system has evolved from since the precolonial times to date. It will also help bring out the differences in terms of the education system that exists now and the one that existed in the past. This will help analyze the history and facts that were used during this time and how they are still implemented in today’s life. To start with, there was the permissive era that existed since the year 1642 to around the year 1821. This is the stage where the government permitted the organization of public schools through the approval of local voters. It followed the 1st education law that was enacted by the Massachusetts General Court. It required parents and guardians of children to ensure that their charges could read and comprehend the ideologies of religion as well as the rules and regulations of the Commonwealth (Coulson, 1999).
Education has been the backbone of development to many people across the world. Most of the successful people in the society have had to go through tough conditions during their pursuit of education. Education in places like the United States was regarded as a private or religious entity that was meant to bring mass schooling and literacy to the nation. It entailed teaching people from different societies and cultures the basic of literacy and helped them gain more knowledge on how they would carry out certain activities (Coulson, 1999). It also brought them together through the understanding the beliefs in their community and religion. This system was followed for several years but could not sustain the diverse communities who had moved to America as immigrants. A proper system had to be implemented to better serve the huge number of immigrants who had moved to America during the Depression period.
Public schooling was introduced during this time to establish social order and mainstream the large number of immigrant children into a common school setting. Many issues arose during this period as many parents did not have trust in the new system. According to an article based on the Massachusetts Teacher reported,” in a number of occurrences the parents are in poor condition of being guardians of their own children the children must be congregated up and made to attend schools.” (Coulson, 1999). These issues still apply even in the life we live today due to the issues of mistrusting parents and the issues of forcing children into common schools. Public schools have discriminated against the community in terms of those who are well off in the community and those rendered not to or rather the have’s and the have-not’s. This has created a huge gap in the learning opportunities that is at times too wide for many parents to cross.
The choices in schools help bridge the gap and takes the American system of education to its roots by empowering all the parents without been concerned about their economic status. It also gives freedom and better opportunity for the parents to choose a better education for their children. The historical education of America has gone through various stages for it to get to where it is. In the lives people live today, not all children receive a decent education (Ornstein, et al, 2004). This mostly applies to those in the urban areas where there is too much segregation and thus poor quality of education. This has been the routine even from the past as will be indicated in this paper.
The Encouraging Era is the stage where the government openly advocates for the creation of district schools and raising of tax revenues to support them. However, the government did not require the establishment of schools. It was marked by the parental authority; it was not mandatory for childen to go to public schools. More than 120 million copies of McGuffey’s readers, which emphasize the ideals of “literacy, hard work, diligence, and virtuous living” are sold (Ornstein, et al, 2004).
In addition to this, there was the Compulsory Era the existed between 1855 to the late 1980’s. This is the period when the government compelled the establishment of school districts, taxation for government schools, curriculum and structure (Ornstein, et al, 2004). It was marked by the decline of parental authority where children of certain ages were compelled to attend school. This period was later followed by the Freedom or School Choice Era which entailed or rather outlined the options for children to expand through home schooling, vouchers, tuition tax credits, scholarship tax credits, education deductions and charter schools. It symbolized the increase in parental authority and options. Parents were given more options to the schools they would take their children depending on their financial ability. The taxation of the activities in schools was meant to build the gap between the schools and parents would have to choose between the schools they felt comfortable taking their children (Coulson, 1999).
According to Coulson (1999), teachers had the capability to change to adhere to the conditions in that with the stages implemented, schools would have children with from the same background and thus segregation would not occur. This would boost the system and quality of education in the United States and children would gain adequate knowledge. If the propositions would be implemented fully, there would be enough teachers who would respond to the huge task of making schools active and vibrant participants in the creation of a new social order. John Dewer’s criticism was genuine and applied to the education system that exists even in the life we live today in that teacher would help bring up better and educated children (Ornstein, et al, 2004). The circumstances that existed during the depression period and the ones teachers face today are quite similar in one way or another. Therefore, it is important to note that teachers would have contributed a huge amount in the elevation of a social order if they conformed to the propositions raised. They would and still can improve the quality of education in schools if they comply to the terms raised during the different stages. This would help eliminate segregation in schools and boost better children who would yearn to learn more.
References
Coulson, A.J. (1999) Market Education: The Unknown History, New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers
Ornstein, A.C., Arnold L, and Daniel, U. (2004) An Introduction to the Foundations of Education, Third Ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co
