History of Education

Post-Civil War to Present

Who are “We the People?”

 

Education Reform and Implications
 
 


 

 

 

 

A Nation of Many Peoples   “e pluribus unum”

 

Background Information:

•      One in every four Americans is a member of an ethnic, racial, or minority group

•      Growth:

–    1859-1914 – 200%

–    1910 – ½ of labor force living in poverty

–    1/3 of all children enrolled in primary school finished

–    1/10 of all children enrolled in high school graduated

•      Out of 478 children living in a NYC tenement, typically 7 attended school

•      Reform Efforts

–    NY Settlement Houses

–    Chicago Hull House

•    Education programs

•    Nursery schools

•    Nutrition information

•    Targeted immigrants

 


 

A Nation of Immigrants

European Americans

 

•       New Wave of Immigrants

–     Southern, central and eastern Europe

•       Most took jobs in industry

•       Impact on Education:

–     Basic education needed

–     Socialization

–     Assimilation

•       1991

–     out of 524 households no ethnic people were fluent in their language

–     Less than 2% ever received aid

–     1% ate ethnic foods

 
 
Native Americans

 

•      Erosion of Culture

–    Military supremacy

–    Destruction of buffalo

–    Railroads

–    Confinement

•      Bureau of Indian Affairs

–    Federal off-reservation boarding schools

–    Continued acculturation

•    Clean and cut hair

•    Military dress uniforms

•    Speech

•      Dawes Act of 1887

–    Broke up reservations

–    Unsuitable for farming

 

 

 

 

 

 

African Americans

 

•      1870 – illiteracy dropped from 82% go 45% in 1900

•      Major Influences

–    Booker T. Washington

•    Teacher and principal

•    Practicality v academic

–    W.E.B. DuBois

•    Political activist

•    Academic approach

•    Educational equality

 

Segregation and the Public Schools – Major Cases

 

Plessy v Ferguson - In 1896, Plessy v Ferguson established  “separate but equal” which served to legalize school segregation.

 

Discrepancies in Financial Support:

•       1917 – 15x more support – resources and dollars

•       1928 – Georgia – 99% of money went to whites

•       Southern States – 1900 - $9.72 per pupil

•       Northern States – 1900 - $20.80 per pupil

 

Linda Brown v Board of Education – 1954 - In the Midwest town of Topeka, Kansas, Linda Brown had to ride the bus five miles to school each day even though there was a public school only four blocks from her house.  She met all attendance qualifications except one -- she was black.

 

·         An attempt to gain equal education under the Plessy case

·         Aided by NAACP - 13 parents filed a class action suit

·         May 17, 1954 - Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment

·        “Segregated schools are not equal and cannot be made equal” - Chief Justice Warren

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

Asian Americans

 

•      Exclusion Acts – limiting immigration

–    Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

•      Immigration Patterns

–    Japanese

–    Korean, Vietnamese

–    Cambodians, Laotians, Thais

•      1990-s – “whiz kids”

–    Highest SAT scores in US

Growth rate – 2% - 2030
 
Hispanic Americans 

•      Hispanic, Latino, Chicano

•      Fastest growing, most diverse group

•      70% of migrant workforce in the US

•      25.3% of all Hispanic youth drop out

•      39.9% children live in poverty

•      Current Issue

–    Bilingual Education

–    ESL

–    Proposition 227

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Craig 2000