The fascinating history of what changed and why mandatory public school systems were created in the early 1900s.
Before public schools, how did children get educated?
1. They were homeschooled
2. Attended a 1-room schoolhouse that included
multiple ages and grade levels in a single classroom
3. The wealthy had private tutors
So what changed? Let me share a few little discoveries I dug up that the school board doesn't want you to know.
Well, right around the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century, the world started to move from an agriculturally based economy to an industrial one. We had the first factories and the business moguls at the time known as the Robber Barons, the most famous of whom were men like
Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and even Federick T. Gates (Bill Gates's grandfather), along with a few others—became wealthy entrepreneurs through product innovation and business efficiency. They needed a class of workers. So, they lobbied the government and provided the startup capital to start a compulsory public school system.
The General Education Board was incorporated by an Act of Congress on January 12, 1903. Their main objective being "the promotion of education within the United States of America, without distinction of race, sex, or creed"
Received endowments from John. D. Rockefeller gave the equivalent of 34 million dollars to start the public school system and create the general education board.
But why? The Robber-Barrons needed to create new workers who were just smart enough to work in industries. So it is no surprise that more than 60% of America's fourth graders are not proficient in reading.
The school system was not designed to create a class of free, independently thinking humans but instead a worker class who are willing to give the majority of their lives to industry.
The word education comes from the word educere, which means to "bring out." So, an education is supposed to bring out what is within your child. But schools don't do that. School tells you something, and if you regurgitate it back, then you get an "A." So even though we have a Department of Education, it's a misnomer.
-Albert Einstein said, "Never confuse education with intelligence."
So, the education system was not created to bring out our natural thinking ability, which is probably why the English curriculum your child will be taught in school when they attend is the exact same curriculum your grandparents had been taught. First implemented in 1930.
If you are interested in teaching your child to read and think
(no teaching experience required)
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