Ensayo usa educacion..

“The Education System in the United States”

Instituto Superior San Nicolás de Bari Culture II

Index:

 Introduction…………………………………………………………. .Page 3

 First school…………………………………………………………...Page 4

 Woman and education……………………………………………...Page 5

 Mann, the father of public American education…………………..Page 6

 Colleges and Universities………………………………………......Page 7 – 8

 Educational system today…..………………………....................Page 9 – 11

 Conclusion……………………………………………………………Page 11

 Bibliography…………………………………………………………..Page 12

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INTRODUCTION

When we talk about education, we are talking about a critical input to productivity and economic growth not only in the United States but in any country. Productivity is enhanced by education; those who receive education are provided with useful skills. Innovation and invention enable the diffusion of technological advances; schooling helps that to be produced. The role of education has not always be the same as some have placed the request on the cognitive skills, especially during the 18th century up to 20th century, and others on emotional skills during the 21st century.

In order to have a well-functioning democracy, formal education, especially basic literacy, helps to have an organized community and a good relationship between citizens. Religion has been part of communities and also had a very important role in not only public but also private education. It took a long period of time to separate the education from the church.

Nowadays, education is consider a consumption good which sometimes does not allow some people to access to it in the case of being private education or some special campus of education. It is important to be provided of public education in order to any person can access to it. When a person has, at least, the literacy education he/she can help to serve a various functions in the economy, polity, religion and improve his/her personal life.

The following monograph will resume the history of education in the United States since the first school, how the woman could have access to education and the importance of the father of the education to how the system functions nowadays considering how important is education in order to form a great country.

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First school

In 1647 the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony decreed that there must be an elementary school in every town and every town of 100 families or more should have a Latin school. The main objective was to ensure the puritan children to read the Bible and receive the basic information about Calvinist religion. Despite this, in the southern colonies education was provided at home by parents o private tutors.

The first school opened was the Boston Latin School(1) which was founded in 1663. It was not only the first school in the thirteen original colonies but also the first public school and the oldest one in the United States.

The methods used were emphasized in family, church and community. The school was the second place of socialization as the family is the first one. Some parents taught their children rudiments of literacy and arithmetic but literacy rates showed that it was higher in New England than in the South.

However, only white man could access to education. “Common schools” appears in the 18th century in which students of all ages were in an specific room, supervised by a teacher

Source: Boston Latin School web page. http://www.bls.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=206116&type=d

[1] School designed for high social classes’ sons who were destined for leadership positions in church, state or the courts.

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Woman and education

The first school for girls was founded by The Sisters of the Order of Saint Ursula in 1727. It was Ursuline Academy (2) in which existed a convent. This school was the first free school and retreat centre for women. Not only white women could attend classes but also African-American slaves women.

Not all the cities reacted in favour of this as school required a tax to continue existing. In the case of Northampton, this city adopted this system later because the rich families did not want to pay taxes to aid poor families. Then all households had to pay taxes and with these funds they supported the school which would prepare men for college. Woman could have access to education paid with public money in 1800.

In the case of Sutton, households with only children paid taxes for education.

Education could help woman to keep their elite status as they were taught art or science in order to develop their reasoning skills. This situation was not in all places because some do not even have a school so writing was taught to men and some women. What was most important was that the men could write and read. In that time, women were limited to only teach each other in convents with priests.

Source: Ursuline Academy. http://www.uanola.org/Page/About/Ursuline-Heritage

[2] The oldest continuously-operating school for girls and the oldest Catholic school in the United States.

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Mann, the father of public American education.

Horace Mann was born on May 4th, 1796 in Franklin, Massachusetts. Despite being from a poor family, he studied law and won a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He was not only interested in politics but also in education, philanthropy and republicanism. He promoted an agenda of public education and “normal schools” to train teacher.

In 1837 the State created the Nation’s first board or education with Mann as its secretary. They do not have funds to aboard the activities, they needed a moral leadership so Horace himself took the responsibility. He wrote a biweekly journal called “Common School Journal” dedicated to teachers and all those who were interested in that theme . He was an influence especially for his main principles regarding public education and its problems.

The six principles of education were:

1- Citizens cannot maintain both ignorance and freedom 2- This education should be paid for, controlled, and maintained by the public 3- This education should be provided in schools that embrace children from varying backgrounds 4- This education must be non-sectarian 5- This education must be taught using tenets o a free society 6- This education must be provided by well-trained professional teachers

Despite these ideas angered social and political groups, prevailed and still do today. Mann served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1848 to 1853 and then became the president of Antioch College. Before he died, he said a powerful and influential phrase: “I beseech you to treasure up in your hearts these, my parting words: Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”

All the reforms he made had a great impact not only in the United States but also in other countries. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento during his visit to the USA in 1865 met Horace who shared with him some ideas about the education system. Sarmiento was influenced by not only what Mann had told him but all the reforms and work he had made for education. When Sarmiento came to Argentina he decided to apply some of them.

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Colleges and Universities:

Colleges or Universities appeared

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