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History of Education
A paper by: Hiram Mwangi Kamau
The development of nations depends on how well it has trained its population to offer its
skills as input to economically productive activities. The United States provides a good example
of a nation that bases its economic and social progress on how well its citizens are educated.
Education has evolved over time, and this paper will investigate the various approaches
historians have taken to write about history of education in the United States. The paper will then
provide a background of the some debates that surround educational procedures, for example, the
time-period of the week. In addition, this paper will look at how the history of education has
changed over time and examine the reasons for these changes. To do so, the paper will consider
the larger political and social context of the United States and other countries.
Background
The development of democracy among Western nations of Europe and the Americas saw
a comparative development in the education sector (Goldin 1999). In the mid-19
th
century, the
United States had high school enrollment figures, which exceeded that of other developed
nations like Germany (Easterlin 1981). From this figures, it was clear that the United States was
now had the best-educated population of the time. The American system of education based its
model on the older and more established systems of Western Europe. In his study, Easterlin
(1981) observes that the American system of education became more effective because other
than using well-tested concepts from other nations, it incorporated a hands-on approach to the
transfer of education. The other factors that Easterlin (1981) attributes to the early success of the
American education system, is the fact that the federal and state governments invested more into
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education than any other country, which resulted in a free education system that gave the
opportunity to more individuals to take part in it. This system also allowed pupils to enroll in
classes irrespective of their sex, age and records from previous schools. The education model
exposed both girls and boys to the same number of schooling years. This had the effect of gender
parity, which fast-tracked the social and economic development of the United States (Easterlin
1981).
Goldin (1999) however challenges Easterlins (1981) assertions of the 19
th
century
American education system as being the best system of its time. She observes that many other
European nations had better higher education systems compared to United States. While
Easterlin (1981) states that, the European higher education system was discriminatory, Goldin
(1999) notes that this meant that only the students with exceptional abilities would access
secondary and tertiary education resulting in highly skilled professionals.
Over time, educational reform in the United States expanded, based on pioneering models
instituted by the New England education sector (Goldin 1999). This author observes that
although during the early 20
th
century most schools were in rural settings, the reforms established
more than 128,000 school districts. These districts had largely independent administrative
powers, which allowed them to tweak their policies to accommodate the distinct education
requirements of their populations.
Due to the freedom in deciding the features of their education systems, state governments
have proposed amendments to the education policy, the latest which calls for a review of the
school-weeks time period. While some parents and students are satisfied with the 4-day week
period, some teachers state that they would work better if a 5-day week period was observed
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(Ravitch 2010). The debate continues on whether longer learning periods are more beneficial
than shorter ones. Ravitch (2010) is a proponent of the longer school period, which indicates the
freedom that the education sector affords.
Analysis
In the 19
th
century, writers of the history of the American education system concentrated
their research topics on the effectiveness of education if the scholars approached it as a science
onto itself (Lagemann 2002). In An Elusive Science: The Troubling History of Education
Research, Lagemann quotes an essay by Harvard philosopher Josiah Royce, which first appeared
in the Educational Review journal that stated that there was:
no universally valid science of pedagogycapable ofcomplete formulation
anddirect application to individual pupils and teachers.
In the study, Lagemann notes that the issue of education history remains a controversial
subject. She states:
Whether there is or can be, a science of education remains controversial to this day.
Despite the persistence of the issue, education became a subject of university study at the
end of the nineteenth century, and as that happened a new domain of scholarship began to
emerge.
By investigating the features of historical research in education, Lagemann (2002) notes
those early researchers were concerned with the state of the teacher who, until the 1820s, would
be addressed by that term, no matter if the individual in question were necessarily a qualified
teacher. An entrepreneur who operated a commercial school or dance school, a graduate who
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held a temporal teaching post in a small town, a mother who schooled her children (or her
neighbors) at home or a minister who tutored the youth of his congregation, were all referred to
as teachers.
Historians noted the feminization of teaching in the 1830-1865 period when the number
of female teachers surpassed male teachers (Lagemann 2002). The author notes the historians
interest on the effect of women who accepted lower pay for their services on the education sector.
The issue of teacher compensation formed the basis of the education sector review, Lagemann
(2002) cites Samuel Read Hall-the founder of United States first teachers school-when he
lamented that the sector was losing its best talent due to poor compensation. According to Hall,
while other professions, for instance, Law and Medicine had overwhelming interest from
students, a low-morale workforce hindered the instruction profession (teaching).
In the early 19
th
century, writers of education history focused their attention on the
educationists who researched into ways of elevating the education sector to the same level as
other hard sciences. In this period, attention shifted to Edward L. Thorndike and philosopher
John Dewey. Lagemann (2002) notes the interest that the historians offered the works of the two
major scholarship philosophers, which lasts up to date. Historians have also focused on the
aspect of low funding that early scholarship researchers secured which led to mediocre research
and ultimately ineffective recommendations on education reform. As a result, writers of
education history have mostly concluded their findings with the chicken-egg situation that the
education was facing.
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How History of Education has changed
One of the notable reforms in the history of the education sector has been the introduction
of the common school (Reese 2011). Andrew Jacksons support for the emancipation of the
common man featured reforms that included legislation to address the education of special needs
children and students from poor families. Writers of education history cite the interest of
President Andrew Jackson in education during the early years of American nationhood as one of
the indicators that the nation would use the education sector as yardstick for societal and
economic development.
Over time, education history writers have monitored the development of the education
sector, with the public school system standing out due to the formulation of state laws and local
governance that either slowed its development or expanded its accessibility (Reese 2011). In
America's Public Schools: From the Common School to "No Child Left Behind", Reese notes that
historians expressed how politicians used the education sector as a fallback explanation to their
policies inability to solve social ills of the day:
But adults (legislators) who are unable to solve the nations most serious, recurrent
dilemmas-poverty, racial and social injustice, and civic apathy-predictably conclude that
the solution resides not in their own behavior but in flawed practices of the schools and
imperfect nature of the young
Education history writers outline the development of scholarship institutions from the
founding of the American nation up to two centuries later and relate the sectors contribution to
what Reese (2011) refers to as American aspiration, achievement, and disappointment. This
author observes that history writers started their chronicles of the education sector from the
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nineteenth century when the sectors major point of interest was the public school, which
propagated President Andrew Jacksons philosophy of the common man. In this period, writers
of the education sectors history based their research on how dominant social changes affected
the development of education. Reese (2011) attributes evangelical Protestantism, regional
conflict, and dramatic social change as some of the factors that influenced how writers
interrogated the perspectives of the education sector.
In late 20
th
century, Reese (2011) observes that the education sector expanded rapidly and
drew more interest from education researchers and history writers as the United States
government rushed to secure the long-term viability of its institutions, so that it would support
the expansion of its economic and military might. The influx of immigrants from Central and
Southern Europe during the 1920s period, influenced how the education sector would cope with
the new ethnic and cultural diverse base.
The Cold War era marked a change in the way developed countries approached education.
Reese (2011) observes that the United States and the Soviet Union invested more in the reform
and streamlining of their education sectors. Coupled with the technological advancements of the
two world wars, the economic and political supremacy battles of that era propelled a review of
how the state accorded high academic achievers access to resources that would eventually turn
their ideas into feasible military and economic advantages.
Conclusion
The history of education relates to the political, social and economic developments of the
worlds leading nations. Since well-educated citizens have contributed more to the development
of their nations than any other resource, historians remark on the flexibility of the United States
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education sector to accommodate students-no matter their origins-as one of its stronger point
over other nations education sectors. Some education sector historians have based their
arguments on how little support the sector was receiving compared to its potential, while others
base their arguments on how well the sector has performed despite the weak, policy-support
framework.
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Bibliography
Easterlin, Richard A. "Why isn't the whole world developed?" The Journal of Economic History,
1981: 1-17.
Goldin, Claudia. A Brief History Of Education in the United States. Cambridge, MA: National
Bureau Of Economic Research, 1999.
Lagemann, Ellen Condliffe. An Elusive Science: The Troubling History of Education Research.
University of Chicago Press, 2002.
Ravitch, Diane. The Death and Life of the Great American School System:How Testing and
Choice are Undermining Education. Basic Books, 2010.
Reese, William J. America's Public Schools: From the Common School to "No Child Left
Behind". JHU Press, 2011.