It's Back to School--Don't Let Them Down!

Source

Can you hear it? Listen carefully. You can hear the sounds of children gently weeping all through the town. Maybe you can’t hear it over the sounds of the cheering parents. It can only mean one thing…school is starting once again!

While this return to the classroom brings structure once again to many homes, a quality education has been a right too often denied to many American children.

One of the first people to have the idea for a type of public education for our children was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson’s vision included not only elementary, but secondary and university education. He also believed the government should have say so over the public school system. His ideas went on to form the basis of educational systems in the U.S. during the 19th century.

He felt education should be free from religious biases and available to all regardless of their status in society. Sounds good Tom, but that turned out to be a little difficult to enforce for a few reasons. At the time, political upheavals, vast immigration and transformations in the economy were all roadblocks to the implementation of laws regarding public school education. As a result, charitable and religious institutions dominated education for many decades to come.                

Two gentleman—Horace Mann and Henry Barnard, were mainly responsible for the first compulsory attendance laws in schools. They wrote the Common School Journal. This regarded “common” or public schooling as something that would create good citizens, unite society, and prevent crime and poverty. By 1852, Massachusetts had passed the first compulsory school attendance laws, followed by New York in 1853. By 1918, all states had laws regarding at least elementary school attendance. Secondary education also benefited. During the years 1900-1996, high school graduation rates went form 6% to 85%.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Everything for everybody! Not a chance. While men were gaining more educational opportunities at the Boston Latin School and Harvard University in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was not deemed “necessary” for girls to obtain an education outside the home where sewing, cooking, and other domestic arts were considered a proper education for young ladies.

It wasn’t until decades later when females were admitted to schools. However, they were not taught the same subjects as their male counterparts. Higher education was out of the question for females until Oberlin, the first co educational college was opened in 1833, 1861 when Vassar, the first all female college, and 1880, when Bryn Mawr, the first female graduate school were established.  Title IX laws prohibiting sexual discrimination in public schools didn't pass until 1972

Source

Similarly, unless you have been living in a cave for the last 50-60 years, you know that equal education for all was not the way the world turned! It wasn’t until 1954, when Brown vs. Board of Education overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson, a law that guaranteed “separate but equal” schools, and desegregation became the law of the land. The implementation of Brown vs. Board of Education met with stiff resistance in the southern states, as was very plainly seen with the “Little Rock Nine”.

Unbelievably, it wasn’t until the 1980s that laws finally eliminated legalized segregation in public schools. Again, laws are one thing; implementation is a whole other kettle of fish! It has been a difficult law to put into effect for not only poorer African American communities, but Hispanic and American Indians. These communities still suffer from lack of funding, quality teachers, and the same opportunities afforded to the more affluent school districts.

Source

Jefferson, Mann and Barnard all had the right idea. Education SHOULD be as much a right as the other freedoms we as American enjoy. However, as with many other rights, it gets bogged down once it hits the politician’s desks. In this instance, it is the children, the future that suffers.

So kiddies, wipe away your tears, and think about our founding father’s dreams and aspirations for your education as American students. Study hard and stretch those brains-- don’t let them down!