Historical Foundations of Education

Chapter 7

Historical Lenses

Celebrationist historians…see the brighter side of historical events

Liberal historians…focus on conflict, stress, inconsistencies

Revisionist historians…learn more by studying what has been wrong than what has been right

Postmodernist historians…see history through the unique lenses of social class, race, ethnicity, gender, age

Learning Outcomes

List important early educators in the world Detail major educational accomplishments of

the early Eastern societies Analyze the life of the colonial school teacher Articulate the roles government played in

colonial America Analyze how an understanding of early

American history informs today’s teacher

The beginnings of Education

Informal education…all peoples have cared for their children and prepared them for life

Hindu and Hebrew education…how to live a good life Chinese education…Lao-tszu and Confucius Egyptian education…education provided for

privileged males Eastern civilizations developed education prior to

Western civilizations, for the most part

Western Education

The Age of Pericles (455-431bce), city states in Greece

Sparta, from 8 to 18, boys were wards of the State…education to develop courage, patriotism, obedience, cunning, and physical strength (little intellectual content)

Athens, heavily stressed intellectual and aesthetic objectives

Western world’s first great philosophers

Socrates…the Socratic method: a way of teaching that centers on the use of questions by the teacher to lead students to certain conclusions…Socrates’ fundamental principle, “Knowledge is virtue.”

Plato…Republic recommendations for the ideal society…three classes of people: artisans, soldiers, philosophers

Greek philosophers

Plato… “A good education is that which gives to the body and to the soul all the beauty and all the perfection of which they are capable.”

Aristotle…a person’s most important purpose in life is to serve and improve humankind…Aristotle was scientific, practical, and objective…had the greatest influence on thinking through the Middle Ages

Females and slaves did not possess the intelligence to be educated. (Plato and Aristotle)

All paid employment absorbs and degrades the mind. (Aristotle)

Western Education—The Romans

In 146 BCE the Romans conquered Greece, many of the advances of the Roman Empire inspired by the enslaved Greeks

Between 50 BCE and 200 CE, an entire system of schools developed

Quintilian (35-95 CE) described current practice and recommended the type of system needed in Rome…very humanistic

Education in the Middle Ages (476-1300)

Roman Catholic Church the greatest power in government and education (by 476, the fall of the Roman Empire)

The Dark Ages…earthly life as nothing more than a way to a better life hereafter

Charlemagne (742-814) valued education, and found Alcuin (735-804) and focused on the seven liberal arts (trivium and quadrivium)

The Revival of Learning

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) “more than any other person helped to change the church’s views on learning”…rooted in the ideas of Aristotle, led to the medieval universities, formalized scholasticism (the logical and philosophical study of the beliefs of the church)

The East had no dark ages. Mohammed (569-632) led a group of Arabs from northern Africa into southern Spain…spread slowly throughout Europe, significant advances in science and mathematics

Education in Transition (1300-1700)

Renaissance and Reformation Renaissance represented the protest against

the dogmatic authority of the church over social and intellectual life…revival of classical learning called humanism

Reformation represented a reaction against corruption in the church which kept most people in ignorance

The Reformation

Formal beginning in 1517…ninety-five theses of Martin Luther…his disagreements with the Church

The Church believed its duty was to pass on the correct interpretation of the Bible to the laity…Luther thought each should interpret for self, and thus individual education was important…to attain salvation

Luther’s coworker in education, Philipp Melanchthon, stressed universal elementary education…education should be provided for all regardless of class, compulsory for both sexes…state controlled and state supported

Education in Transition

Ignatius Loyola(1491-1556), to combat the Reformation, began the Jesuits in 1540…established schools to further the goals of the Catholic Church, were involved with teacher training from early on

Comenius (1592-1670),wrote many texts, first to use illustrations, writings based on science

John Locke(1632-1704) tabula rasa

Modern Period (1700 to present)

Descartes(1596-1650), laid the foundations for the modern period and rationalism

Reason is supreme, the laws of nature are invariable, truth can be verified empirically

Frederick the Great (1712-1786), leader of Prussia, friend of Voltaire, interested in better training for teachers

Emergence of the Common Man

A period during which developed the idea that common people should receive at least a basic education as a means to a better life

Rousseau…most important educational work, Emile (1762) about the liberal education of youth…naturalism, education must be natural not artificial “…we ascribe too much importance to words. With our babbling education we make only babblers.” Children are born good but corrupted by society

The Emergence of Common Man

Pestalozzi (1746-1827) Swiss educator who put Rousseau’s theories into practice… educators from all over the world came to view his schools…unlike most teachers of his time, he felt students should be treated with love and kindness

Herbart (1776-1841) studied under Pestalozzi, organized the educational psychology…preparation, presentation, association, generalization, application

Froebel (1782-1852), kindergarten, social development, cultivation of creativity, learning by doing…women best suited to teach young children

Colonial Education

Southern Colonies…in 1619, twelve years after the founding of Jamestown, slaves brought to the South for cheap labor…two distinct classes of people emerged, a few wealthy land owners and many poor workers, mostly slaves…landowners hired tutors to teach their children

Middle Colonies

Various national and religious backgrounds, so they did not agree on a common school system…each established their own religious schools, many received education through apprenticeship

Northern Colonies

Settled mainly by the Puritans People lived close to one another, shipping

ports established, industrial economy developed

Old Deluder Satan Act(1647)…required towns to provide for the education of youth…the Massachusetts laws of 1642 and 1647 became the model for other colonies

Types of Colonial Schools

Dame schools, writing schools, charity schools

Colonial colleges: Harvard (1636), William and Mary (1693), Yale (1701), Princeton(1746), King’s College (1754), College of Philadelphia (1755), Brown (1764), Dartmouth (1769), Queens College (1770)…heavy emphasis on theology and the classics

Toward Universal Elementary Education

Monitorial schools (1805), in New York City, economical way to teach the masses…one lead teacher with lots of helpers among the older and better students…closed by 1840 because seen as not worth the cost

Horace Mann (1796-1859), leading proponent of common elementary schools, the forefather of the contemporary public school

Massachusetts in 1852 passed compulsory attendance laws…by 1900, 32 other states did likewise

Secondary Schools

Latin Grammar Schools…strictly college preparatory, must know Latin and Greek for college admittance

American Academies… Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia among the first to prepare young men for employment through practical studies…an also enrolled women

High Schools…replaced the academies, were financially more in the reach of the masses

Federal Involvement in Education

Northwest Ordinance (1785 and 1787) …encouraged the establishment of schools, set aside the sixteenth section of each township to be used for educational purposes

Morrill Land Grant (1862)…to provide the vocational educated that was needed

Smith-Hughes Act (1917)…high school vocational education

Teaching Materials

Hornbook New England Primer Blue-Backed Speller Slates McGuffey’s Reader