History and Development of American Education System

Colonial Foundations and Competing Educational Theories

The history of education in America is founded on two basic theories. The first is a religious theory — the belief that its people have a "manifest destiny" to fulfill in relation to the rest of the world. This theory, which later evolved into a political and military theory, assumed the rest of the world to be inferior and savage from the time the first Pilgrims landed in Plymouth in the seventeenth century. That worldview molded the ensuing principles of education. With the inclusion of successive waves of immigrants into the colonies, the union of states established for itself a history of destiny and redemption from outside political or religious forces it disapproved of.

During the colonial period, education was a means of restoring the civilization the colonists had left behind in England. The colonists used the Bible and the New England Primer as the primary sources of instruction, teaching their history and their rationale for existence and morality. Their religion was bound intimately with this sense of manifest destiny and formed the basis of education in general.

The second theory is political. Social movements developed in the New World that adopted the philosophy of French socialists. These groups built small communities in Illinois, New York, and Louisiana where they spread and taught the values of independence, hard work, and devotion to common ownership or sharing, as influenced by the teachings of Karl Marx, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and others. Between the extremes of the Left and the Right was the "Religious Right," which sought to make public education more responsive and sensitive to Protestant ideals. A massive student movement emerged in the 1960s to seek the de-control of education and make it less public and more personal, in the form of free schools and counterculture. The historic ideology of the Right, however, characterizes current American public education, wherein the control of the curriculum and the methods of instruction reside in the federal and state governments.

Darwinian Influence and Progressive Reform

Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory of history became the guiding principle of thinkers who decided what should be taught in schools. These thinkers concluded that science was the most important subject to teach because it taught children how to survive, especially in a competitive environment. Other thinkers held that private education was superior because students who attended private schools later performed better on standardized tests. Poor test scores indicated a lack of fitness and a failure to learn. This thinking pointed toward the most effective teachers and schools — those producing the highest test scorers — and developed into the concept that the nation's survival depends on its people excelling in the international contest for resources and superiority. As an organic principle, it prompted Americans to rise above others to prove their worth, frowned upon cooperation, and prized competitiveness.

The major changes in education in the latter half of the century included a broader philosophy focused on progressive education and social reconstruction movements, a new psychology, more sophisticated learning theories, vocational and special education for both the handicapped and the gifted, the reorganization of schools to include junior high schools and correspondence courses, large enrollment growth, the extension of formal schooling, and improvements in teacher training. The effect of vast cultural changes — such as the mass media, the internet, email, and multimedia systems — also reshaped the educational landscape. These changes now confront American educators with the challenge of providing a varied, realistic, and individualized education to young people while continuing to produce the specialists necessary to sustain the nation's industrial democracy.

Structural Changes in the Twentieth Century

Many of these changes began in the nineteenth century, and some developed only in recent years as a consequence of economic and social upheaval during the two world wars. They gave rise to new problems tied to technological discovery, scientific development, and legal reforms aimed at controlling the waste and exploitation of natural resources. The 1929 Great Depression rattled American optimism and trust in government's role in economic affairs, particularly during the enormous task of economic rebuilding under President Franklin D. Roosevelt beginning in 1932. After World War II, a swift technological revolution and achievements in space exploration won federal support for teaching advanced science, mathematics, and foreign languages, as well as the training of exceptional pupils as leaders in science and military development.

New reforms and policies were introduced during the administration of President John F. Kennedy, while increased federal aid to education characterized the succeeding Lyndon B. Johnson administration. The rapid increase of the U.S. population — from roughly one hundred million in 1918 to more than 280 million in the early 2000s — accompanied by accelerated migration from every part of the world, created essential new challenges. This phenomenal social mobility and the emergence of new industries posed new and quite different educational problems. As the United States became the most politically and economically powerful nation in the world, Americans became among the most affluent in history. That status of wealth correspondingly required that they be better educated at every stage, and at every stage there were new problems to face.

Research shows that more than half of all high school students are interested in continuing their education at a college or university. The current demand for both general education — for children with common or similar school experiences — and increased specialization has risen steadily. These factors in the development of education derive from cultural changes that occurred after World War I and endure to the present. Educators today question the adequacy of the educational system. Studies and observations show that many young children learn at a younger age than earlier assumed, particularly in skills such as reading. Children also mature at different rates, so that enrolling them all at age six has not always been psychologically beneficial. Young children today commonly receive some form of early childhood education, such as structured nursery schooling, a Montessori-format program, or day care centers that conduct learning programs and teach social skills. The educational ideas of Maria Montessori became popular in 1911, but like other private preschool programs, they require high tuition fees beyond the reach of most families.