Name ______________________________
Expanding Public Education- Ch 8.2 p. 282-285
Main Idea: Reforms in public education led to a rise in national literacy and the promotion of
public education.
Why it matters now: The public education system is the foundation of the democratic ideals of
American society.
How this relates to national identity: National identity is the depiction of a country as a whole,
encompassing its culture, traditions, language, and politics. The education system in the United
States is regarded as part of culture and tradition with the idea that education to all is a right of
those who live in the United States and therefore part of culture; therefore education is
synonymous with the national identity of the United States.
I.
Expanding Public Educationa. Schools for Children
i. 1865-1895 states passed laws that required children to go to school 12-16
weeks (60-80 days) annually between the ages of 8 and 14. Today the state
of Michigan requires 175 days in school which will change to 180 days in
2016-2017 school year for students age 6-16.
ii. The curriculum emphasized reading, writing, and arithmetic. Today’s
student must have hours in diverse curriculums that include: arts, career
and employment skills, English Language Arts, Health & Physical
Education, Mathematics, Social Studies, Technology, World Languages,
Nutrition, and Science.
iii. Strict rules and physical punishment were acceptable.
iv. Kindergarten became popular as childcare and eventually William Torrey
Harris wrote guidelines that worked kindergarten into the public school
system.
v. White and black students were treated differently as 63% of whites
attended elementary school while only 34% of blacks attended school; in
Name ______________________________
Expanding Public Education- Ch 8.2 p. 282-285
the South, the majority of black students did not attend school until the
1940’s.
b. The Growth of High Schools
i. Because the economy in the 1900’s demanded technical and managerial
skills, secondary education (high school) became necessary and courses
expanded to include science, civics, and social studies.
ii. Vocational courses prepared men for industrial jobs in drafting, carpentry,
and mechanics. Women were prepared for office work.
c. Racial Discrimination
i. African-Americans were excluded from secondary school.
ii. In 1890, less than 1% attended high school, and those students attended
private high school.
iii. By 1910 3% of African-Americans attended high school, the majority still
attended private high school.
d. Education for Immigrants
i. Immigrants were encouraged to attend school!
ii. Public school is where immigrant children became “Americanized”
iii. Thousands of adult immigrants attended night school to learn English to
qualify for American citizenship.
iv. Employers offered daytime programs to Americanize their workers (most
notable may have been Henry Ford’s “Sociology Department” which
taught men “the right way to live”.
II.
Expanding Higher Education
a. Changes in Universities
i. 1880-1920 college enrollment quadrupled
ii. Research universities emerged-offered courses in modern languages,
physical sciences, psychology, and sociology.
iii. Professional schools in law and medicine were established
iv. Either entrance exams or high school diploma started to become the
requirement for admission
Name ______________________________
Expanding Public Education- Ch 8.2 p. 282-285
b. Higher Education for African Americans
i. African-Americans founded Howard, Atlanta, and Fisk Universities
(1865-1868) since they were excluded from white institutions.
ii. Only 3,880 of 9,000,000 African Americans attended a university.
iii. Booker T Washington was a proponent of education and who graduated
from Virginia’s Hampton Institute and then went to the Tuskegee Normal
and Industrial Institute which taught teaching skills in agriculture,
domestic, and mechanical work. He believed that African-Americans
would have to prove through peaceful means that they are worth of
education.
iv. W.E.B. Du Bois believed that only mutiny would prove that AfricanAmericans deserved an equal education. He graduated with a doctorate
from Harvard in 1895 and founded the Niagara Movement in 1905, which
insisted that blacks should seek a liberal arts education so that AfricanAmerican communities could have well-educated leaders.
.