Julian Flores: American Education System

For years after gaining its independence from England, the US had not created a national education system. The constitution never guaranteed the right for Americans to have an equal opportunity in education. With no help from government, people set aside land and created schools so that their children could be productive people when they grew up. It wasn't until the 1840s that education reformers, such as Horace Mann and Henry Barnard, pioneered the basis of the national American education system we see today.

Hornbook had letters (upper and lowercase)
Also contained the Lord's prayer

In colonial times, the thirteen colonies had a different education process in the three different areas: New England Colonies, Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. In the New England area, boys and girls were taught how to read by their parents so that they could learn about christianity through the bible. Although there wasn't much after learning to read for women except learning "how to run a home", boys went to grammar schools set up by establishments with more than 100 families that taught boys latin, math and other subjects they needed to attend college. Although literacy rates were lower in the middle and southern colonies, the middle colonies had the second best schooling and then came the southern colonies. Most boys and girls were taught how to read by their parents with the use of hornbooks. Although people were coming together to form little schools, there still wasn't really any help from the government but it was their own sort of system still.

After about 60 years of those kinds of schools, Horace Mann and Henry Barnard began a movement known as "The Common School Movement." They helped create state operated school systems so that they could increase the opportunity for each child by providing them with an equal education. This idea was the basis of the school systems we see today, and they pioneered this idea because most countries that had education systems were education systems that were operated by a central national government.

The US is still continuing to push the frontier with many different acts. The 20th century and the present are filled with acts making Horace Mann and Henry Barnard's idea stand. The Department of Education which was established in 1979 and their mission is to "promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access." This department enforces acts like the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This act was an important step into funding from the federal government to fund states for public schools. Finally, Obama has taken action recently in 2010 revising the Primary and Secondary Education act in order to “The blueprint challenges the nation to embrace education standards that would put America on a path to global leadership." Since our schooling isn't as dominant as it once was, America is now pushing children to their limits so that they can compete with other countries "on a path to global leadership," which truly shows how America is a pioneer in education.

Although national and state governments are pushing Americans to want to learn, it may not be a good thing to force these ideas this way. It feels like there is too much pressure on some kids because they know that without an education, in this time period, it is very difficult to succeed without a good education.