Education Reform- History

The education reform started in the 1800's because the only people who got an education were wealthy landowners who could send their children to private school or hire a private tutor. Everyone else would have to attend an overcrowded one room schoolhouse where 8th graders were taught alongside 1st graders. The school year was also nonconsecutive, and children may have only gone for a few weeks at a time due to having to work on the farm. People realized that this was not an adequate education system and that it needed to be changed. This addressed the needs of the schoolchildren to be educated. Horace Mann of Massachusetts became secretary of that state's board of education, and he believed that education was a child's natural right and that moral education should be valued.  The Common School Movement was a group of people that advocated for a better education system and supported Mann's views. In the 1820's, public schools began to become more common. In 1837 when Mann became the Secretary of the State of the Massachusetts board of education, the reform movement started. He was one of the first people to bring attention to the education system of that time. He increased state spending on schools, lengthened the school year, divided students into grades, and introduced standardized textbooks.

http://northwesthistoryexpress.com/timeline/education1800.php

http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/history/chapter9section2.rhtml

http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/first-age-reform/essays/education-reform-antebellum-america