1. Western University
School of Arts, Humanities, and Languages
Department of English
Subject: Foundation of Education
Chapter 5: Historical Development of American Education
Lecturer: Mr. Soeung Sopha
1

2. This chapter examines :
The history of the
American educational
experience and how
individuals and groups
shaped educational
institutions in the United
States.
2

3. This chapter discuss about:
1. The colonial period
2. The creation of a uniquely American
educational system
3. The diffusion of universal education
4. The development of secondary
education
5. The development of institutions of
higher learning
6. The education of culturally diverse
populations
7. Trends in the history of American
education
3

4. In reading the chapter, you can
situate yourself in the history of
American education by assessing
how these trends and
developments shaped your own
education.
4

5. The Colonial Period
Effect on Native Americans
The colonists at first recreated the
socioeconomic-class-based on:
 Dual-track school system
 Latin grammar schools
5

6.  The Town school
 Educated both boy and girl ( 6-14 )
 Attendance could be irregular
 The school’s curriculum included
reading, writing, arithmetic,
catechism, and religious hymns.
6

7.  Atmosphere of the town school
 Dominated by the teacher’s pulpit-
like desk at the front of the single
room.
 Most teacher were men.
 Very few elementary teachers were
trained in educational methods.
7

8.  The Latin Grammar school
 Upper- class boys attended Latin
grammar schools.
 Entering the Latin grammar school
at age eight and complete at
fifteen or sixteen.
 Study mathematics, science, or
modern languages.
8

9.  Havard College
 Havard was founded on the puritan belief
 Students had to demonstrate
competency in Latin and Greek
to be admitted to Havard
 Havard taught grammar, logic,
rhetoric,mathematics, geometry,
astronomy, ethics, philosophy,
and natural science.
9

10.  Colonial Education
 Parallels among regions
 Gender discrimination
 Tracking by social class
 Provided basic literacy
× Discouraged upward social mobility
10

11. The Early National Period
 Primary schools and Latin grammar schools
continued into the early national period.
 New educational ideas for the new nation
 During the early national period , several
leaders, including :
- Benjamin Franklin
- Thomas Jefferson
- Benjamin Rush
- Noah Webster
11

12. 1. Prepare people for republican
citizenship
2. Include utilitarian and scientific skills
and subjects to aid in developing
the nation’s vast expanses of
frontier land and abundant natural
resources
3. Be divested of European attitudes
and create a uniquely American
culture.
12

13. 1. Benjamin Franklin:
“ The Academy ”
Born: ( 1706-1790 )
A leading statesman, scientist, and
publicist founded an academy
13

14.  Emphasis on science and
practical skills
- Useful knowledge and science
- Recognized the future
importance of science, invention,
and technology.
- Ignored such as carpentry,
shipbuilding, engraving, printing,
and farming.
14

15. 2. Thomas Jefferson :
“ Education for Citizenship ”
Born: ( 1743-1826 )
Author of the Declaration of
Independence and the third
president of the United States.
15

16. Jefferson expressed his educational
philosophy
“ Bill for the More General Diffusion of
Knowledge ”
 Jefferson’s plan
- Provide both equity and
excellence in education.
- The sate would pay for the first
three years of a student’s
attendance.
- Would have established 20
grammar schools.
16

17.  Jefferson’s plan
- Provide both equity and
excellence in education.
- The sate would pay for the first
three years of a student’s
attendance.
- Would have established 20
grammar schools.
17

18. Scholarships based on merit
- Male students would
receive a scholarship
- The 10 scholarship can
attend the College of
William and Mary.
18

19. 3. Benjamin Rush:
“ Church-Related Schools”
Born : ( 1745-1813 )
A leading physician and medicated
educator of the early republic.
19

20.  Religion and science
- Wanted the Bible and Christian
principles taught in schools and in colleges.
- Science revealed God.
- Combined the state schools and college
with the private and public interests.
- A determined promoter of women’s
education.
20

21. 4. Noah Webster :
“ Schoolmaster of the Republic ”
Born : ( 1758-1843 )
A leading educator and
lexicographer.
21

22.  Learning American culture through
language:
- A common language and literature
would build a sense of national identity.
 Webster’s influence on “ Americanization ”
- He wrote spelling and reading books
that emphasized American identity.
- His American Dictionary was published
in 1828.
22

23. The Movement toward Public
Schooling
 Sunday schools:
- Established in the larger cities such
as New York and Philadelphia.
- Provided a minimal basic education,
consisting of writing, reading,
arithmetic, and religion.
23

24. Students as assistant teacher:
- The monitorial method used monitors
such as teaching classes, taking attendance,
and maintaining order.
 Rise and fall of monitorial schools:
- More than 600,000 children
attended the monitorial schools.
- In the 1840s, the common schools
replaced monitorial schools.
24

25.  The common school
- Growth of the common school
- A school for all classes
25

26. 26 The development of American
Secondary School
 The Academy: Forerunner of
the High School
 Academy replaces grammar
school
• Academies were both single-
sex and coeducational.
• Offered wide range of other
programs

27. 27
 Academy programs followed
three points
1. The traditional college preparatory
curriculum with emphasis on Latin
and Greek.
2. The English language program
3. The normal course, which
prepared elementary-school
teacher

28. 28  Academies for women
• Classical and modern languages
• Science
• Mathematic
• Art
• Music
• Teacher preparation or normal
curriculum

29. 29
 The High School
 Compulsory attendance
• Established the age range that
student had to attend school
• Enactment of child labor law:
which restricted the employment
of children and adolescents so
that they would attend the school
rather than enter the work force

30. 30
• Opposed by immigrant parents who
feared it was a strategy to erode their
children’s ethnic heritage.
• Opposed by among farmers who
needed their children to work on the
farm.

31. 31  Effort to standardize curriculum
• In 1982, the National Education
Association (NEA) established the
Committee of Ten and made two
important recommendations:
1. Subjects should be taught uniformly for
both college preparatory students and
those who completed their formal
education upon graduation.
2. Eight years of elementary and four
years of secondary education.

32. 32
• It identified four curricular as
appropriate for the high school:
1. Classical
2. Latin-scientific
3. Modern language
4. English

33. 33
 Secondary-School Organization
• By 1920s, four curricular patterns were
evident high schools:
1. The college preparatory program
2. The commercial or business program with
courses in bookkeeping, shorthand, and
typing
3. Industrial, vocational, home economics
and agricultural programs
4. A general academic program for
students who would completed their
formal education upon graduation.

34. 34 • The typical high school pattern
followed a four years sequence
encompassing grade 9-12 and
including ages 14 to 18.
• Variation included reorganized six
years school, where students
attended a combined junior-senior
high school.
• Three years junior high school, grade
7-9
• Three years senior high school, grade
10-12.

35. 35  Middle School
• Traditional institution between
elementary and high school
• Grade 6-8 (age 11-18)
• Featured learning centers,
language laboratories, and art
centers

36. 36
 The American College and
University
 Colleges of the colonial period
• The general colonial curriculum included
1. Year1: Latin, Greek, Hebrew, rhetoric,
logic
2. Year 2: Greek, Hebrew, logic, and
natural philosophy
3. Year 3: natural philosophy,
metaphysic, and ethics
4. Year 4: mathematics and review of
Greek, Latin, logic, and natural
philosophy.

37. 37
 Community College
• Two years
• Originated as junior colleges
• Providing training for technological
change and those related to the
communication and electronic
data revolution.

38. 38
Education in a Culturally Diverse
Society
 African American
 Freedmen’s Bureau
• Provide economic and
educational assistance to African
American
• Followed a New England
common-school curriculum of
reading, writing, grammar,
geography, arithmetic, and
music, especially singing.

39. 39
 Stereotypes limited teaching
• Most schools in the South were
staffed by northern white
school teacher, who believed
that African American
students needed only a limited
basic education.

40. 40
 Native Americans
 Children learned skills, social
roles, and cultural patterns from
their group’s oral tradition, from
parents and elders, and from
direct experience with tribal
life.
 The federal Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) attempted to
civilize Native American.

41. 41
 Boarding School
 Implemented the assimilationist
educational policy.
 Emphasized a basic curriculum
of reading, writing, arithmetic,
and vocational training.
 Many Native American
youngsters resisted and some
ran away from school.

42. 42
 Latino Americans
 Spanish-speaking people
 Originated in Mexico, Puerto
Rico, Cuba, or other Latin
American countries.
 Shared Spanish tradition, but
each group has its own
distinctive culture.

43. 43
 Asian Americans
 Chinese and Japanese were the
first Asians to settle in US.
 More recent Asian immigrants
include Filipinos, Indians, Thais,
Koreans, Vietnamese, Laotians,
and Cambodians.

44. 44  The Immigration Controversy
 The debate focuses on
immigrants’ impact on the
economy, national security,
and American culture identity.
 Some people believe that
immigrants are taking jobs
away from Americans citizens.
 Illegal immigrants are an
expensive burden on the
country’s educational, health
care, social service, and
especially terrorism.

45. 45
Two Closing Historical Issue
 A Persistent Issue: Teaching about
Evolution
 Christian fundamentalists rejected the
theory of evolution.
 Scopes believed that it was impossible
to teach biology without including
evolution.

46. 46  A New Issue: Teaching in a global
society
 Globalization: as a
multidimensional process is
generating profound
economic, entertainment…
between people of different
countries.
 Economic changes

47. 47
Thanks for your attention!