History of Education: An Overview of the Changing Focus of Education

Pre-1890’s

Puritinism fades, the ideal becomes the Renaissance Man
An Upper Class Luxury
Helped teach running of the Estate
Appreciation for Arts and Knowledge
Classics were central (Greek, Hebrew)

Late 1800’s to early 1900’s

Progressive reformers influence education
Education seen as tool to teach children proper values needed to be a productive
American citizen
Society's ills could in part be alleviated for all classes
Would fit children for their proper role in society.
Public education seen as a way to "Americanize" the vast number of immigrant  
     children
Compulsory attendance laws were enacted to ensure that all classes receive a basic,
     "common," education in elementary grades.
Fewer children attend high school since immigrant and working-class families rely on
     their children working
Sports instituted and co-ed classes

Industrial Age

High schools attended by middle- and upper-class students who aspired to
     white-collar jobs or a higher academic education.
Improved economy higher wages after 1900, more working-class families send
     children to high schools
Vocational and industrial programs in high schools offered by reformers

-Meant to entice the working class and poor to stay in school and to prepare them adequately for what the reformers thought was their appropriate role in society.

Before & During World Wars

Education opens more doors for women and minorities esp. during war
Education becomes a State responsibility
Universities offer graduate programs
Minority Groups suffer worse deprivation than immigrant groups
Segregated Schools
Indian Schools fashioned to Assimilate to "Western-European Culture."

-Children sometimes removed forcibly from homes

School Reform 1960’s on

School reform added physical Education to curriculum
Desegregation in terms of minorities
More diverse theories in terms of learning
Progressive Educational Reform on all levels
Programs put in place to reduce inequities