PBS Video - Episode 1

I think there was a lot of progress in the school system between the years of 1770 - 1890. When schools first started, they were not free and available to the public. It cost money so usually families could only afford to send their youngest child, if they were able to send any. Mainly only the rich went to school, and only boys could go on to further their education. Religion was a big part of students' education.

Finally because of people like Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann, public schools were created. There were some problems because the poorer families still didn't send their children to school, because they needed them to work on the farm. And if they were sent at all, school was used as more of a daycare then for educational purposes. The schools were in bad shape - they were crowded, uncomfortable, and lacking supplies. Students varied in age and the teachers weren't very good. Horace Mann helped change this though. He went around to all the schools and made huge improvements. He made sure schools had textbooks, chairs, and blackboards. Around the same time religion was cut from public schools because of the conflict of what religion should be taught.

When settlers started moving west, there was a demand for teachers to move out west and teach the children there. This is when women teachers became popular because they were the ones who were willing to leave their homes and because they were cheaper to pay then men were. These women were taught about education before they were teachers, so that in itself is a huge improvement.

During this time frame, schools went from only having rich kids to having every socioeconomic status. Kids were staying in school longer, the teachers were better, the schools were better, and there was more textbooks available to students. The only issue that wasn't faced during this period was that not all kids went to school together. Blacks were segregated from schools, and I don't believe that Native Americans went to school at all. But overall I believe that there were more breakthroughs in public education then setbacks.