history of school

[lauriebeth]

when did people start sending their kids to school--  i think unschooling was what was done for centuries, right\

a letter was sent home from my daughters public school saying how important it is to get there on time, as it conditions them to get to work on time...  YIKES!   That just sounds...  creepy...  maybe its the wording...  It made me wonder if maybe the Industrial Revolution had something to do with mass schooling\  When we were primarily an agrian society, you went more on nature's scedule than  a fixed one...

I dont know, these are guesses...  anyone know why and when mass schooling started

[IdentityCrisisMama]

I think this looks interesting (though, perhaps you'd prefer an unschooler's perspective?): http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/about_the_series/index.html

[pek64]

The first public school was established in Boston in 1635. Some of the founding fathers attended it.

I read several years ago that the founding fathers wanted an educated voting population. While I wasn't able to find that explicitly, I did find that raising up the lower class was one reason for public schools.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Feducationmatters.blogs.newmanu.edu%2F2011%2F07%2F09%2Fa-founders-view-of-national-education%2F&ei=CCJWUKv7DOf62gWblIDIDw&usg=AFQjCNGdWNvmZUyvemfeX795_tOPBXbtgw

That said, it seems obvious to me that the Industrial Revolution has influenced the current purpose of schools.

[4evermom]

The first modern compulsory schooling started in Prussia at the beginning of the 1800s. It's purpose was to teach kids to grow up to be good workers, obedient and subordinate to authority, good soldiers, etc. That is what public schools are modeled after, not some utopia of education for education's sake or to encourage independent thinking. So, no, that letter from the school district isn't anything new. 

[pek64]

Originally Posted by 4evermom 

The first modern compulsory schooling started in Prussia at the beginning of the 1800s. It's purpose was to teach kids to grow up to be good workers, obedient and subordinate to authority, good soldiers, etc. That is what public schools are modeled after, not some utopia of education for education's sake or to encourage independent thinking. So, no, that letter from the school district isn't anything new. 

Can you provide support for the statement that all modern schools are modeled after the Prussians' schools?

[4evermom]

I didn't say all modern schooling was based on the Prussian model. I said the (U.S.) public school system is. You can just google it, but here is an excerpt from the wikipedia page about Prussian Education:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_education_system

Emulation of the Prussian education system in the United States

American educators were fascinated by German educational trends. In 1818, John Griscom gave a favorable report of Prussian education. English translations were made of French philosopher Victor Cousin's work, "Report on the State of Public Education in Prussia." Calvin E. Stowe, Henry Barnard, Horace Mann,George Bancroft and Joseph Cogswell all had a vigorous interest in German education. In 1843, Mann traveled to Germany to investigate how the educational process worked. Upon his return to the United States, he lobbied heavily to have the "Prussian model" adopted.

Mann convinced his fellow modernizers, especially those in the Whig Party to legislate tax-supported elementary public education in their states. Indeed, most northern states adopted one version or another of the system he established in Massachusetts, especially the program for "normal schools" to train professional teachers^[2]. In 1852, Mann was instrumental in the decision to adopt the Prussian education system in Massachusetts. Soon New York state set up the same method in 12 different schools on a trial basis.

And an excerpt from John Taylor Gatto's writing:

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/7a.htm

Thirty-three years after Prussia made state schooling work, we borrowed the structure, style, and intention of those Germans for our own first compulsion schools.

Traditional American school purpose—piety, good manners, basic intellectual tools, self-reliance, etc.—was scrapped to make way for something different. Our historical destination of personal independence gave way slowly to Prussian-purpose schooling, not because the American way lost in any competition of ideas, but because for the new commercial and manufacturing hierarchs, such a course made better economic sense.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Oh, yes, OP! Gatto's complete "History of American Education" is available online! http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm

ETA: this article by Gatto is much shorter and covers a bit of the history, according to his research, of course. 

[SweetSilver]

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[pek64]

Here's an overview of schools in this country.

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/

And a timeline.

http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/educationhistorytimeline.html