Who Should Control Education The Common School Era

Who Should Control Education: The Common School Era

Colonial Era /Demographics /Attitude toward children /Education (grammar schooling) /Education (college)

Drawing of Harvard College, circa 1767

Revolutionary Era /Ideology /Faith in reason /Natural law (deism) /Nationalism

Revolutionary Era Education /Jeffersonian /Meritocracy /Plan ideals for popular education-4 tiers /His legacy

Common School Era /Demographics /Ideology

One Room School House (KS)

One Room School House (MD)

Common School Movement /School structure /Teaching /Overarching goals: moral training, discipline, patriotism, mutual understanding, formal equality, and cultural assimilation /(development of high schools)

/By Questions for Discussion which secondary source-Kaestle or Bowles and Gintis-are you persuaded? /What do you think of the arguments for localism or centralization? Where do you stand? / What do you think about the notion of the “common school? ” What would it look like? /Where do you stand: are children property of the state or of their parents? (Kaestle 158 -159) /What is the hidden curriculum and how is it transmitted to students in today’s schools?

The Progressive Era I: Pedagogical Progressivism

Characterization of the Era /Urbanization /Immigration /Ideology /Education

General Characterization of Progressive Education /Built on the “new” psychology /Traditional classical curriculum should be replaced with a varied curriculum /Learning should be based on activities not rote memorization /Primary aim of schooling is to help solve society’s problems

New Educational Goals /Social stability /Employable skills /Equal educational opportunity /Meritocracy

George Counts (1889 -1974) /Influenced by Dewey /Envisioned a ‘political’ role for teachers /Accused of being a communist /Critical of Progressive Education

John Dewey (1859 -1952) /The ‘father’ of pedagogical progressivism /Disagreed with Counts; believed that schools should produce reformers not reform society directly

Dewey’s ideas /Schools kill curiosity and social interaction /Schools should be laboratories for democracy /Education THROUGH the vocations not FOR the vocations

Questions for Discussion /What do you think the role of the school should be in society? Should they lead or follow? /What of the role of the teacher? /What do you think of the concept of indoctrination (a la Counts)? /Do you have a prescription for achieving the “good” society?

The Progressive Era II: Administrative Progressivism/ Social Efficiency

Alfred Binet /Paper and pencil test /Series of short tasks according to child’s age /Related to everyday problems /Didn’t rely on learned skills like math or reading

Binet’s cautions /Scores are a practical device; they do not buttress any theory of intellect /Scale is a rough empirical guide for identifying learning disabled kids NOT for ranking normal children /Low scores shall not be used to mark children as innately incapable

Enter Lewis Terman /Adopts Binet’s test but alters it to sort, classify, and test all American school children /Intelligence Quotient born in 1916

Impact of the IQ /What began as a way to identify individual children with special needs became a means for ordering groups /Said to test inherent/innate ability /Immigration policy took cues from results

Progressive Education (review) /Replace classical curriculum with a varied curriculum based on kids’ interests /Learning should be based on activities not rote memorization /Schools should help solve society’s problems /Seeking social stability, employable skills, and equal educational opportunity

Consequences for Course Taking

Questions for Discussion /Should we have a core curriculum? What should it be? /What are the merits of a differentiated curriculum? /How much differentiation is too much?

Language Issues: Does an American Have to Speak English? Ingles Englisch 英語 Inglese ﺇﻧﺠﻠﻴﺰﻱ

1930 s Court Cases /Salvatieera (TX), 1930 v. Independent School District /Court Oks separation on the basis of English language handicaps /Alvarez v. Lemon Grove School District (CA), 1931 /classifying Mexicans as /School board: separate Indian education best for learning language and assimilation (and gender fears) /San Diego court: school board can’t separate ALL kids

/Mendez 1940 s Court Cases v. Westminster (CA), 1947 /School board says MA kids happier in separate classrooms/schools /Federal District court disagrees (they were separated for wrong reasons: race) /Delgado v. Bastrop (TX), 1948 /Parents continued Salvatierra fight

1970 s Court Cases /Cisneros 1970 v. Corpus Christi District (TX), /Mexican Americans classified as such (brown not white) /Lau v. Nichols, 1974 /Question: equal or equitable treatment required by schools? /(critical mass necessary) /Made language a civil rights issue

Questions for Discussion /How do we reconcile American-ness with diversity? (umum and pluribus) /How do we reconcile ethnicity with American-ness? /What do you make of the relationship between language and citizenship? /Is it the school’s role to teach/help maintain culture?

Religion and Education

Colonial/Revolutionary/Common School Eras and Religion /Protestants outnumbered other immigrants /Jefferson’s Bill for Religious Freedom /Demographic changes with increases in Irish Catholic immigration

Religion in Textbooks Catholicism /Catholics need the pope while Protestants rely on bible as guide /A danger to the state /Sample texts Judaism /A religion or a race? /Associated with greed (contrast with Franklin) /College admissions becomes HUGE issue

Court cases /State 1925 v. John Scopes (Monkey Trial) (TN), /Evolution v. creationism /Science in the classroom /Inherit the Wind, 1960 /Pierce v. Society of Sisters (OR), 1925 /Compulsory education=public education /Anti-Catholic intentions

Questions for Discussion /How does religion fit in today’s public schools? /What do you think of the use of school property for religious purposes? /How should science classes be handled (evolution/creationism/ punctuated equilibrium)?

Education for Liberation

Paulo Freire /Worked with rural poor adults /Professor, government employee, and community worker /Wanted to extend literacy and democracy

Highlander Folk School, Miles Horton /Founded as adult education center; aim was to build a progressive labor movement /Changed focus in 1953 to Civil Rights Movement and voting rights

Early Desegregation Decisions /Gaines v. Canada (MO), 1938 /Sipuel v. Board of Regents (OK), 1948 /Mc. Laurin v. Board of Regents (OK), 1950 /Sweatt v. Painter (TX), 1950

The Brown Decision, 1954 /Briggs v. Elliott (SC), 1950 /Belton v. Gebhart; Bulah v. Gebhart (DE), 1951 /Brown v. Board (KS), 1951 /Davis v. Prince Edward County SB (VA), 1951 /Bowling v. Sharpe (DC), 1952

Brief Mississippi History /Black statistics /White reaction to Brown decision /(SNCC and sit-ins) /Summer 1964: Freedom Summer

Questions for Discussion /What do you make of Freire and SNCC in light of previous authors with regard to the purpose of education? /Would working within the system or outside the system be best? /Does this influence your opinion on who is “qualified” to teach?

Who Should Control Education Revisited: The 1960 s and 1970 s

What is Black Power /The launching of a movement (1966) /Carmichael and Hamilton, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America

Black Access to Higher Ed /Civil Rights Act of 1964 /Higher Education Act of 1965 /Campus-based affirmative action /Numbers in colleges

Curricular Changes /Black Studies /Community control /Multicultural/Afro-centric Education

Questions for Discussion /How much control should a community have? /Hiring teachers? /Curriculum? /Educational policy? /What is a ‘qualified’ teacher?

Contemporary Debates over the Curriculum in a Multicultural Society

Questions for Discussion /Where do hyphenated Americans (a la Sekhon) fit in today’s discussion? /When is it acceptable to use race as an identifying characteristic and when is it not?

Textbooks and Culture Wars: How Should We Teach History?

Questions for Discussion /What are the consequences of the way we shape/interpret history? /Is there a certain age at which student should be exposed to history as interpretation? /How should we teach patriotism in schools? And how should patriotism be defined?