Public School & the Challenges Surrounding Public Ed.

 Public School & the Challenges Surrounding  Public Ed. 

     Public Education was originally difficult to enroll in; I would say it was more of a luxury than a choice. To be able to attend school wasn't something many could afford at the beginning, especially for women, slaves and people of color. As the years went by, public education became necessary and more common to the point that it became one of the biggest public institutions in the country in the 1900s. Americans were not only loving their tax-supported free schooling but were hanging unto the democratic promise of an improved lifestyle for both men and women. As a matter of fact, as the economy became more complex more districts established secondary schools so students would be able to attend high school and college spending on their intelligence which was based off of I.Q. tests given in school. Education was revolutionizing as well as the people in the country. Immigration was at its all time high and people were realizing that advanced schooling was needed after the successful launch of Sputnik.  

   The first half of the twentieth century was focused on expanding schools. Parents wanted to enroll their children because they wanted their children to learn new skills and gain knowledge that would benefit the industrialized society. Despite all the challenges faced, nearly all children had already begun attending public school, and nearly 80% of teens were attending high school by mid-century. Yet, "even as School enrollments multiplied, questions continually arose about what to teach, whether to give the same kind of education to all children, and how to allocate educational opportunities among different ideas about what sort of education a democratic society should offer its children" (The Story of American Pub.Ed., pg.64). As the economy grew, more districts opened secondary schools and students stayed past the eighth grade, unlike previous years. As a matter of fact, what led to this increase in public education was the immense immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. I wasn't surprised to read that, "many figures complained in books, articles, and legislative hearings that the "new" immigration consisted of undesirable "racial stock" as compared to the old and that it tended to be illiterate, criminal, dependent, and ill-fitted to the demands of a Teutonic civilization" (The Story of American Pub.Ed., pg.65). Many students in the class emphasized this point because till this day, immigrants are looked upon as insignificant and undeserving of the same rights. Parents enrolled their children in school in hopes of allowing them to have a better future than they did. Schools had to learn to adjust to the immigration and implement programs that helped these immigrants become Americanized, yet, efficiency experts believed that their methods of analysis were backed up scientifically and above academic traditionalism. The reason behind their thinking was to convey to the citizens that the problem lay behind the curriculum because the curriculum was based on verbal studies and academic subjects and they suggested that children needed more practical studies to prepare them for jobs. 

    Ultimately, the curriculum was guided down the vocational path and led to the development of intelligence tests (I.Q.) The fact that according to page.102 in The Story of American Pub. Ed. Lewis Turman, “had this project where he derived the I.Q.s of famous figures throughout history, which is scientifically a complete crock”. I.Q. tests shouldn’t determine the potential of any student and it’s terrible to even consider people “Rubbish” like Thomas Jefferson did. For example, Russell Robison took a vocational interest test in which he said it concluded that he would make an excellent YMCA secretary but a terrible mediocre engineer and his career proved that test wrong.  

    Around the 1930s-1940s, school's nationwide reached a point of equilibrium in their curriculums. Yet, by the 1950s, Americans began complaining about the quality of education their children were receiving and the board was throwing the blame on teachers and the way they have lowered academic standards by trying to make school seem like "real life". As the debate grew stale, the Soviet Union managed to launch Sputnik (the first space satellite) and after successfully landing on the moon congress passed the National Education Defense Act in 1958, which provided over $100 million dollars in educational funds. I truly have to agree with Ravitch that the most radical of all American ideas is the idea that everyone can be educated and that immigrants helped transform America for the better!