This is part 5 of 5 in the series “Origin of Public Education.”

How much has public education changed in the United States over the last 30 years?

…*Crickets*…

If you compare this time period in the US with most others in its young 250 year (or so) history, you will find that something seems stuck in the cogs of meaningful evolution of academic growth.

The first two hundred years of establishing this country was spent fighting for freedom of various flavors. By the mid 1900’s education was not only a right, but compulsory, for all children of age regardless of color, socio economics, gender and ability. With all kids getting educated, one would expect literacy rates to sky rocket and public schooling being one of the most valued national treasures of this country. No snickering, please.

But before we can even get to the dialogue of quality versus quantity, and whether or not we have to give up one for the other, we need to answer the first question of this blog: What happened in the 1980’s?

 Well, by now you know that there was a report titled a Nation at Risk, which settled the rumors that American Education was a flop in this paraphrase: We are doomed.

And in international comparisons?—We were putting me in mediocrity.

But instead of the swift response when the Sputnik had taunted the US as runner up, the efficiency in how reforms issued by president Regan and congress were executed was…well…mediocre.

In short, the reforms recommended were: Teaching. More teaching. Here is what to teach. Money. More money. And kids—We expect more of you as a result.

It’s curious, because recommendations for reform since then look eerily familiar, but don new pseudonyms. And of course a new budget.

Bill Clinton passed the Improving America’s Schools Act in 1994, George W Bush signed No Child Left Behind into law in 2001, and Barack Obama has made some amendments based on similar philosophies. But you know what they say about doing the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result.

The timeline we have covered is a snapshot via blog and does not even come close to covering every event, presidency or man-made impression on US public education. And as each day adds to our timeline of history like a living document, we too are part of making it.

Here are the concluding thoughts of this series:

Throughout this country’s young history the promise that all men are equal has sparked many civil right debates. None less is education. The fundamental questions have not changed much over time:

• Who is public education designed for? Who is “the public” in public education? Is it the children in our classrooms? The staff hired using our tax-moneys? Or is it the taxpayers themselves?
• What defines success? Does every child really have the right to equal access of such?

To this day, is access to education fair or equal? Although sex, color and creed are no longer a determining factor in compulsory education, income and socioeconomics still play a role in the equal access part. Millions of children today attend schools that are considered subpar from all sorts of aspects, academically lacking, and in some cases unsafe. Should the family be fortunate to be able to pay twice for education (taxes to keep the subpar area school still afloat, while paying out of pocket for other schooling), they have options that other families don’t.

This is where the next civil rights battle in education may lie.

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This is Part IV in the series History of Public Education.

In just a century and a half, give or take, public education United States by the 1950’s had gone from infant beginnings to the largest schooling system in the world; scared by wars and calloused by politics. The American public education system was celebrated by many as the best in the world. Until, one Soviet Union satellite Sputniked into space, that is. What a blow to US National pride!

If the United States of America had the best education in the world, then why was it not first in space? The power of acquired knowledge and innovation in science, and its impact on national security, was fresh on people’s mind since World War II. It wasn’t long before US officials responded by beefing up science in its schools. The National Defense Education Act was passed in 1958 to finance both scientific research and education. So away went the trend about home economics and—hello, Cold-War-style science education!

About a decade later the United States of America was the first to land on the moon.

Many milestones in US history which relates to education can be listed off: The passing of the Civil Rights Act (about time!), the Immigration Act, Bilingual Education Act (later repealed and replaced with No Child Left Behind), and of course—another round of “Monkey Trials.” Darwinists had been long been fighting for their right to teach evolution in schools. In the 1920’s the appeals had lost in court. This time though, Epperson v. Arkansas, was ruled in favor of monkey business, and prohibiting teaching of evolution as a theory considered unconstitutional based on the first amendment.

But even in the wake of the Civil Rights movement, there were some children who still were left out. It wasn’t until 1971 and the case of Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens v. Pennsylvania that children who were classified as “mentally retarded” were legally allowed a free public education.

But don’t underestimate the power of the press. A 1975 Newsweek story called Why Johnny Can’t Write sparked strong interest in back-to-basic education. No, not science. Not wood-wittling either. The other stuff; reading, writing, and math. What a concept!

One wonders what how history would be different if former president Ronald Regan had actually carried out his vow to abolish the Department of Education. The DOE had attained cabinet status during the Carter era, which is a direct eye-poke for those who believe in market education. Alas, we cannot do more than speculate because the dis never materialized beyond campaign promise.

But Regan didn’t sit idle when it came to education. In 1983 the National Commission of Excellence in Education issued a report titled “A Nation at Risk.”  Americans were once more reminded that our schools were not as hot as we thought. Or as the report’s author, James J. Harvey, said in his own famous words: “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”

Well knowing how strongly America feels about the connection of education and National Security (remember the Sputnik, fear of foreign influence during World War I and II–or heck–even the Revolutionary War), you are certain that them are fighting words. That is all it took for the US to launch a counterattack on milk-toast education and fix the exposed threat to our kid’s futures, right?

Well, not quite…Let’s talk more Regan era, then we  have the 90’s to cover, and the fear of millenium change until today.

Follow our conversation and conclusion of History of Public Education by checking www.summercounts.com frequently, or by subscribing or following us on Facebook.

http://summercounts.com/blog/2011/02/02/origin-of-public-education-part-i-the-purpose-of-common-schools/

http://summercounts.com/blog/2011/02/03/origin-of-public-education-part-ii-is-compulsory-just-for-some/

http://summercounts.com/blog/2011/04/12/604/

 http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2002/Gary-Schools.html

http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/educationhistorytimeline.html

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/roots_in_history/choice.html

http://www.aoh61.com/history/bible/nativism_chronology.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-only_movement

http://www.congresslink.org/print_basics_histmats_civilrights64text.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epperson_v._Arkansas

http://www.faculty.piercelaw.edu/redfield/library/case-parc.pennsylvania.htm