A deep commitment to education throughout the years.
Educating the American masses, not to mention our own individual children, seems a daunting task, given the convoluted, inconsistent public school system that’s in place today. But a look back shows that educating children has always been a messy endeavor.
Americans had to be persuaded that publicly funding education was even worth it, although many of our Founding Fathers felt the success of their democratic experiment depended significantly on the education of the masses. Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend in support of paying for public schools, arguing “the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.”
While today’s leaders aren’t much concerned with the United States regressing into a monarchy, the fear that has plagued us since Russia launched Sputnik involves our pre-eminence in the global power ranking. Education debates today are not made in the rhetoric of freedom and liberty, but rather in that of global competitiveness and relevance. Our students have been held to the expectation to become democrats, then industrialists and now technological innovators.
And today we are not just concerned with educating an electorate of white men. As the face of the American public shifted in waves of immigration and struggles for equality, so did our concern with what it means to be educated. The language of schooling adapted not just figuratively, but literally. Schoolhouses that once taught American’s hodge-podge of students in their mother tongues then became forces that pulled together the nation’s diverse citizenry under a common language and curriculum, for a while at least.
As you click through our humble attempt to map the small and revolutionary steps we’ve taken to create and reshape the American public school system we have today, please remember: We have always fretted over education. And we worry not only out of concern for what we give our children for their future, but also in response to who we are today.
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