Chapter 8
Part 2
Pages 282-285
Expanding Public Education
Terms to Know
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Booker T. Washington
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute
W.E.B. DuBois
Niagra Movement
Early U.S. Educational Reformers
• Horace Mann: First state school
superintendent
• John Dewey: a progressive reformer who
beleived that schools should prepare
studets for full participation in community
life and for participation in government as
informed voters and civil servants
Schools
• To train for employment opportunities
• To train for responsible citizenship
• To help immigrants assimilate into
American life
By the Civil War
• Most states had established public schools
• Fewer in the South
• BUT most did not get HS diploms
• Most left after 4 years of public schooling
Between 1865 and 1895
• Many states had passed compulsory
education laws
• 12-16 weeks of school a year
• From 8 to 14 years of age
• Basic reading, writing, math
Why children skipped school
• See page 285 …a reading about the good
old days
William Torrey Harris
• An educational reformer at the turn of the
century
• Like Dewey Promoted a child-centered
education
Kindergarten
• Began as day care for mothers who
worked but grew dramatically
• 200 kindergartens in 1880
• 3,000 in 1900
• So public schools began to add
kindergarten programs
Public Education and Race
• 1880 62% of white children were
attending elementary schools
• Only 34% of African American children
attended
• After 1900 some improvement but
segregation and poorer conditions for
Black children
The Growth of High Schools
• The Industrial Age demanded those with
mechanical skills and managerial skills for
advancement
• By the early 1900’s more than half of a
million students were arrending High
Schools
New Curriculums
• In Science, Civics, Social Studies
• New Vocational Courses: drafting,
carpentry, mechanics
• Women’s courses for office work
African Americans
• Were often excluded from public high
schools
• By 1890 less than 1% of African
Americans attended High School
• Only 3% in 1910 and these were ot public
schools
Education and Immigrants
• Immigrants were encouraged to attend
public schools
• For assimilation
• But many Catholics were concerned about
Protestant indoctrination so founded
parochial schools
Adult Education
• Adult immigrants took advantage of night
school to learn English, government,
American History for citizenship
• Some employers offered daytime
programs…Henry Ford
Higher Education
• By 1900 a minority had a High school
diploma
• And fewer than 3% attended college
• BUT between 1880 and 1920 college
enrollment fquadrupled
Colleges
• Changed curriculum
• Changed admission policies
New Courses
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Modern languages
Physical sciences
Psychology
Sociology
• New schools for law and medicine
College admissions
• Some had enterence exams
• Some admitted all with a high school
diploma
African Americans
• Were rejected by white institutions
• Some Black colleges through the
Freedmen’s Bureau (established after the
Civil War to attend to the problems of the
newly freed Black man) and private
donations
• Howard, Atlanta, Fisk
By 1900
• There were 9 million African Americans
• 3,880 attended colleges or professional
schools
Booker T. Washington
• African-American Educator
• Noteworthy Black Leader
• Believed that racism would disappear
when Blacks could show that they were a
valuable part of the national economy
• Washington urged patience and hard work
through his Atlanta Compromise
The Atlanta Compromise
• From a speech given in Atlanta, Georgia
• Washington urged Blacks to educate
themselves in a practical trade (ie black
farmers should know the state-of-the-art
information on fertilizer) AND to emulate
the white middle class
Through education
• The Black population could become an
integrel part of the American economy
• By emulating the white middle class,
Blacks would assure the Whites that they
were no threat to American culture and
wanted to “fit in.”
Booker T. Washington
• Was born a slave
• By 1881 he headed the Tuskegee Normal
and Industrial Institute…Now Tuskegee
university in Alabama
• Specialized in teaching, agricultural,
domestic, and mechanical courses
W.E.B. DuBois
• The first African American to earn a
doctorate from Harvard
• Promoted a Liberal Arts Education for
Blacks
• Wanted African Americans to demand their
rights now
The Niagara Mov ement
• Founded the NAACP in 1905
• Hoped for immediate inclusion into
mainstream American Life for the African
American