Education History and Policy Notes

Function of the Supreme Court: Interprets laws and ensures their constitutionality.
Programmatic vs. Regulatory Power: Federal government uses both to influence state behavior.
Federal Government Influence: Uses "carrot and stick" approach to modify state behaviors (incentives and penalties).

Calvinist/Pilgrim Influence:
- Literacy required to form a direct relationship with God.
- This was the beginning of paternalism towards others.
- More affluent individuals received better education.

Religiously Heterogeneous: Diverse religious beliefs.
Anti-Intellectual: Perceived intellectualism as interfering with spiritualism.

Natural Rights: Revolution rooted in natural rights and John Locke's view of the state as an agent against tyranny.
Common School Movement: Making the common school movement counter intuitive.
Constitutional Convention of 1787:
- 10th Amendment: Posed challenges for education and centralized control.
- Resulted in different education systems across states.

Post-Revolution: U.S. was a land of culture and contradiction.
Social Leveler: Education seen as a means to level social inequalities.
American Cohesion/Identity: Education aimed to create a unified American identity.

Mothering and Teaching: Considered similar roles, just in different settings.
Missionary Teachers: Women were missionary teachers, employed because they were cheaper than men; currently, 77% of teachers are women.
Male Teachers: Stereotyped as "incompetent, intemperate, and superstitious simpletons."
Hartford Female Seminary:
- Had hundreds of students.
- Curriculum: Latin, Greek, algebra, chemistry, mathematics, philosophy.
- Controversial: Some believed it filled young women with vanity, distracting them from more useful skills.

Complicated Figure:
- Devoted to education as a social leveler.
- Also devoted to the idea of phrenology-eugenics
- Idea that physical cranial characteristics could be used to detentity moral/ Intellectual deficiencies
- Offers a loop hole out of calvinist predestination
- Could be saved through education
- Ex. ( we still try to direct women to humanities and not hard core stem, less women in engineering and not because of ability because of how our society has run into a railroad of direction )

Whig Ideology: Equity not a primary driver.
Structural Constraints: Ignored as reasons for underperformance.
Social Improvement: Seen as a "personal problem."
Societal Deficiencies: It was thought societal deficiencies could be eradicated in a few generations

Mann's Advocacy: Advocated for Prussian schooling model.
Adopted Aspects: Libraries and normal schools.
Teacher Training: The training and assessment of teachers has remained largely unchanged (p.25)
Classist Views: Mann and Beecher held classist views on education's role.
Intellectual Liberation: Intellectually -liberating literary was not deemed useful for the masses.
Character Education: Required for the masses.
European Countries (France): Furnishing a liberal arts education.
European Fallacy: Mann dismissed liberal arts for the masses as a "European fallacy."

13th Amendment (1865):
- Abolished slavery at the federal level.
- Former Confederate states had to include it in their constitutions.
14th Amendment (1868):
- Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S., including former enslaved people.
- Provided all citizens with "equal protection under the laws," extending the Bill of Rights to the states.
15th Amendment (1870):
- Prohibited states from disenfranchising voters based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
- Left open the possibility for voter qualifications applied equally to all races.
- Poll taxes and literacy tests instituted to disenfranchise African Americans.

Butchart (2010): Notes that the great failure of slavery was its inability to crush the black longing to read and write ‘ (p.2).
Newly Freed Blacks:
- Formed communities.
- Reconstructed families.
- Built churches.
- Demanded access to literacy.
- Churches served as schools.
- Teachers taught classes of up to 100 students.

White Resistance: Racist whites terrorized black educational aspirations.
Forms of Intimidation:
- Firing and marginalization of white Northern educators.
- Burning of schoolhouses.
- Beatings and killings.
Psychological and Physical Toll: Constant threat of violence significantly affected the black community.

Reconstruction as a Concept: What's being reconstructed? What came before?
Presidential Reconstruction: Andrew Johnson (1865-1866)
- Confiscated lands back to owners
- Pay war debts and pledge allegiance/ comply with 13 amendment
- Black codes passed: race defined by blood; employment mandatory : assembly restriction
Radical Reconstruction (1866-1873)
- March 1867- free public schools as precondition of readmittance
- Article IV US Constitution - “ the US shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government”
- Between 1870-1900 black illiteracy dropped from $79.9-44.5 %$
Redemption (1873-1877)
- White southern democrats defeated republicans.
- Sought to cast African Americans as a permanent underclass.
- School funds divided according to property tax.
- By 1916, in counties with 75% black students, white students received $22.22$ per child compared to $1.78$ per black child.

Department of Education (1867):
- Limited ability to deliver equal opportunity.
- Originally conceived to:
  - Influence school policy nationwide.
  - Provide incentives for increased spending.
  - Alert the public to the value of education.
  - Regular assessments and evaluations.
  - Concentrate on pedagogy.
10th Amendment Prerogatives: Along with Washington's inability to remain focused on the liberating potential of education relegated the agency to a warehousing data

De jure vs. De facto Segregation: Legal segregation vs. segregation in practice.
Legal vs. Social Equality: Distinction between legal rights and social realities.
Withdrawal of Federal Troops: Allowed the South to reconstitute a racial hierarchy.

Child-Centered Pedagogy: Shift towards focusing on the child in education.
School-Home Split: Growing divide between school and home environments.
John Dewey and Progressive Education:
- Understanding what it is and what it does is crucial.

Rise of Teacher's Unions: Emergence and growing influence of teacher's unions.
Espionage and Sedition Acts (1917-1918):
- Banned speech or acts deemed disloyal to the United States.
- Contradicted the founding intent that viewed the state as an agent of tyranny.
American Legion: Promoted the idea that Russia was actively recruiting/training teachers to subvert US youth.