'The Book' - Blog 21

Chapter Six
The Origins of Mass Public Education

This chapter outlines the history of public education. The authors feel that this is an important piece of history to review to understand the following:

1. To discover how the school system has changed.
2. It will enrich ones understanding of the relationship between the educational structure and economic life.
3. One must know how we arrived here in order to make the necessary changes in order to move on.

It is interesting to note that the first public school was set up in Massachusetts. This was because of the booming industrial nature of the area. This is where most of the information for this chapter was pulled.

As was discussed in previous chapters, the means of production was by and large taken away from the family unit and the rapid change brought about from the industrial revolution that swept its way across the U.S., for many the education seemed to promise the respectability and security they were looking for. There was also a growing concern of the conditions of labour. The demand for elementary schooling actually came from what we would know as the middle class. There was an influx of immigrants to the Northwestern states and the small rural towns were rapidly becoming cities. The 'middle class' or the 'respectable' members of the time (around 1840's), which were primarily artisans and shop keepers believed that educated workers would would make better workers. Most of the immigrants of the time were uneducated and had their own distinct cultures. (There was a massive influx of Irish immigrants of the time.)

Since the means of production were taken away from the family unit, this was no longer a suitable venue in which to educate ones children as it had been previously. It was no longer fulfilling the needs of the work in the rising industrial sector. This coupled with the massive influx of immigrants school was seen as almost a substitute for the home. There was an interesting quote on page 162 which really gives a feel for how immigrants and children were looked at during this time period, and the value / need of education at the time.

Many of the cities children .. "have to receive their first lessons of subordination and obedience in the school room. At home, they are either left wholly to their own control, or, what is almost equally as bad, the discipline to which they are subjected alternates between foolish indulgence and exasperated tyranny."

The book alludes to the fact that the need for mass public education arose from the the industrial revolution, yet I feel that there was just as much of a need to essentially 'do something' with the massive influx of children. Up to this point in history children were home schooled and taught their parents trade. Or the fragmented schools that existed were getting by with rudimentary education. Once the population exploded the U.S. had another issue on its hands.

Once this influx of immigration occurred, the school structure that we essentially see now was born. The school board of the time consisted of almost solely of business owners. This is where the hidden curriculum came into play. The book calls it 'heart culture' over 'brain culture.' The school curriculum was beginning to mirror the workers necessary to fill the mills and factories. Subordination, neatness, order following, friendliness and loyalty were stressed. Then the depression years of the early 1840's hit and and the economic value of education began to surface. Leading the school reforms of the time was Horace Mann who was on the State board of education.

To be continued...