Chapter 5: The History of Schools in the United States

In 300 years the curriculum of American schools has changed almost as much as the different kinds of students it serves. Schools, first started in Massachusetts Bay Colony by the Puritans, consisted of strict memorization of the Bible and the New England Primer, which was full of religious rhetoric. Noah Webster's spellers and McGuffey Readers replaced the Primer, not by reduction of memorization but by substituting secular authors for some of the religious ones. The purpose of education was to teach children to read the Bible and moral discipline. With the influx of immigrants due to industrialization, the purpose changed to a focus on literacy and discipline to create a better workforce. Progressivism invaded schools and with it came moveable tables instead of single desks and group work with learning occurring through experimentation and discovery. Unfortunately, the goal of education for progressively minded people was to reform society and when there was no apparent effect, the schools received considerable criticism. Besides the ever increasing focus of math and science in today's schools, most of the debate for change is fueled by minorities who want their cultures and histories integrated into main stream education.

American education was created by Protestant believers and one of the first groups to challenge the religious influence it had in schools were Catholic immigrants from Ireland. Ethnicity, like religion, is no longer homogenous as it was in the beginning. Most schools are now populated with students of different backgrounds and ethnicities. The debates to integrate those races in the same school, to teach bilingually, or to keep the curriculum with the point of view of Anglican Americans are ongoing. The system, of course, is not flawless but I believe it has come a long way from containing racial and religious slurs within the text books.