EDUCATION IN AMERICA
Ch. 2 THE EARLY YEARS
Europeans who influencd Early
Education
John Amos Comenius [1592-1670]
All children should be trained methodically by
teachers using quality textbooks in schools
supported by government and the clergy.
Programs divided into four different grades:
The Nursery School [birth to age six]
Elementary or National school [ages 6-12]
Latin school or Gymnasium [ages 13-18]
Academy [Gifted ages 19—24]
COMENIUS [cont]
• A child’s mind should be “prepared” to receive
instruction
• Education would be “easy and pleasant” if begun
EARLY, before a child’s mind was “corrupted.”
• Teachers should:
present lessons at a reasonable pace
use age appropriate instruction
keep materials constantly before children’s
eyes
use a single method of instruction at all times
ENLIGHTENED VIEWS
LOCKE and ROUSSEAU
JOHN LOCKE [1632-1704] believed:
• The human mind at birth was a blank slate
[tabula rasa] not a collection of preformed
ideas placed there by God.
• Children:
should interact with the environment by
using their five senses to gather and test
ideas.
learned through imitation
JOHN LOCKE [cont]
Teachers should:
• Tailor instruction to the individual child’s
talents and interests.
• Encourage curiosity
• Treat children as “rational creatures”who
might unlock life’s mysteries
• Teach by example and suggestion, not by
coercion
AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
Defined as a period when reason was valued as
a supreme virtue.
Locke thought that people were inherently
good, and that children taught by benevolent
educators were bound to grow intellectually
and prosper.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
[1712-1778]
In his book, Emile, Rousseau described the development
of a human being from infancy to maturity.
Goal: to provide experiences that matched the natural
conditions of a child’s growth by:
• Removing obstacles that might impede development
• Allowing the child to:
learn by trial and error
explore the environment with his senses
use his hands (Emile learned carpentry)
compare himself to others
think about his place in the world
JOHANN HEINRICH PESTALOZZI
[1746-1827]
Children
should not be treated like sheep
should not be forced to study boring letters and
numerals
pass through a number of stages of development
natural curiosity and playfulness should not be
stifiled by educational conditions
be exposed to experiences that appealed to all of
the senses
learn by head, hand and heart
FREDRICH FROEBEL
[1782-1857]
Founder of the first kindergarten (1837) in Blankenberg, Germany
Children:
• learn through the use of educational games
and activities (gardening); play is an important part of learning
• are not “lumps of clay” to be molded
• need time and space to develop according to natural law
• Use their senses, emotions, and reason that are necessary attributes for
learning
• Learn only when they are ready to learn
• Are creative
EDUCATION IN THE SOUTHERN
COLONIES
• Virginia, Maryland, Georgia and the Carolinas
• People lived on large plantations with rigid class
distinctions
• Growers raised crops: tobacco, sugar, cotton
• A hired tutor taught the landowner’s children
• Curriculum: the 3 Rs; reading the Bible
• Slaves, servants and their children rarely received
any type of education on the plantation; most
could neither read or write
• Informal education for small farmers’ children
EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC
COLONIES
• New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware
• Diversity:
Religious: (Catholics,Mennonites, Quakers,
Lutherans, Calvanists, Presbyterians, Jews)
Language: most spoke English; others
spoke Dutch, German, French, Swedish
Parochial Schools: English, Irish, Welsh,
Dutch, and German Quakers (open to
everyone including Indians and slaves).
Curriculum: religion, the 3 Rs, vocational training
NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
• Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut
Shared:
Puritan values
common religious beliefs
Teachings of John Calvin:
God is omnipresent and good
Human beings are evil and helpless, predestined
for
either salvation or eternal torment
Established: Town Schools (every town of fifty households had to
employ a teacher of reading and writing; every town of 100
households had to provide a grammar school to prepare students
for continuing study at Harvard University)
Enacted: The Massachusetts Act of 1647 (Old Deluder Satan Act) to
produce Scripture-literate citizens to thwart Satan’s trickery.
FACTORS AFFECTING EDUCATION
BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR
• Institution of slavery, displacement of Native
Americans status of women
• European philosophies and educational practices
• Patterns of colonization and immigration
• Importance of religion
• American Independence and westward expansion
• Importance of nationalism
• Industrialization and Immigration
• Wealth and poverty
• Common school movement and push for universal
schooling
QUESTIONS
1. HOW DID INDUSTRY AFFECT EDUCATION?
2. HOW WERE SLAVES EDUCATED? WHO WAS DAVID
WALKER?
3. DESCRIBE EDUCATION FOR NATIVE AMERICANS.
4. DESCRIBE EDUCATION IN SPANISH AMERICAN
COLONIES
5. HOW AND WHY HAS THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN
EDUCATION CHANGED?
6. WHY DO YOU THINK ATTITUDES TOWARD PEOPLE
WITH DISABLILITIES CHANGED SO MUCH?
AIMS OF EDUCATION
• TO SAVE SOULS: RELIGION
• THE KING JAMES BIBLE
• FORMAL SCHOOLING PATTERNED AFTER
ENGLISH SCHOOLS
• DAME SCHOOLS = Run by women; taught girls
reading, writing and calculating.
• Private schools
• Wealthy sent their children abroad
LIFE IN COLONIAL SCHOOLS
• Schoolmasters had to teach and do other jobs
• One room schoolhouse with all ages
• Whole -group instruction, memorization, drill
and repetition, choral responses, corporal
punishment: “Spare the rod, spoil the child”
• Mid-1880s = change from teacher brutality
due to graded schools and Pestalozzi: teaching
students to behave rather than beating them
into submission.
CURRICULA
• Old and New Testaments = God & the 3 Rs
• ABCs, Vowel sounds, one-syllable, longer
words and sentences
• Wrote on chalk slates and used quill pens and
copy books and other books from the family
• HORNBOOKS, PRIMERS and ALMANACS
• GEOGRAPHIES, SPELLERS and DICTIONARIES
• MCGUFFEY READERS (1836)
TYPES OF FORMAL SCHOOLS
• Monitorial Method = older pupils taught younger
pupils
• Latin Grammar School (Boston,1635) Boys
• Benjamin Franklin’s English Language Academy in
Philadelphia (1749)
• Thomas Jefferson drafted the Bill for the More
General Diffusion of Knowledge = Free public
education via the COMMON SCHOOLS, taxsupported schools [3Rs & History] that children
could attend free for 3 years and pay thereafter
THE MOVEMENT FOR UNIVERSAL
EDUCATION
• HORACE MANN [1796-1859], Revolutionized US
education: the financial responsibility of the state;
established the system of grade levels, age and
performance; extended the school calendar from 3 to
10 months; standardized textbooks and made
attendance manditory. Mann also established the first
Normal School for training teachers (1839)
• HENRY BARNARD [1811-1900] Led the struggle for the
common school; English was the most important
subject; promoted the public high school; teacher pay;
common school: good enough for the best, cheap
enough for the poorest family.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF PAROCHIAL
SCHOOLS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
PROTESTANT
GERMAN LUTHERAN
ROMAN CATHOLIC
BAPTIST
ANGLICAN
CONGREGATIONAL
DUTCH REFORMED
PRESBYTERIAN
FRENCH REFORMED
QUAKERS
MENNONITES
HUGUENOTS
ANABAPTISTS
JEWS