History of Eduction III

History of Education III


Montessori

Montessori’s methods of early childhood education have become internationally popular. Trained in medicine, Montessori worked with developmentally disabled children early in her career. The results of her work were so effective that she believed her teaching methods could be used to educate all children. In 1907 Montessori established a children’s school, the Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House), for poor children from the San Lorenzo district of Rome. Here she developed a specially prepared environment that featured materials and activities based on her observations of children. She found that children enjoy mastering specific skills, prefer work to play, and can sustain concentration. She also believed that children have a power to learn independently if provided a properly stimulating environment.

Montessori’s curriculum emphasized three major classes of activity:

(1) practical,
(2) sensory, and
(3) formal skills and studies.

It introduced children to such practical activities as setting the table, serving a meal, washing dishes, tying and buttoning clothing, and practicing basic social manners. Repetitive exercises developed sensory and muscular coordination. Formal skills and subjects included reading, writing, and arithmetic. Montessori designed special teaching materials to develop these skills, including laces, buttons, weights, and materials identifiable by their sound or smell. Instructors provided the materials for the children and demonstrated the lessons but allowed each child to independently learn the particular skill or behavior.

In 1913 Montessori lectured in the United States on her educational method. American educators established many Montessori schools after these lectures, but they declined in popularity in the 1930s as American educators stressed greater authority and control in the classroom. A revival of Montessori education in the United States began in the 1950s, coinciding with a growing emphasis on early childhood education.

B

Dewey

The work of American philosopher and educator John Dewey was especially influential in the U.S. and other countries in the 20th century. Dewey criticized educational methods that simply amused and entertained students or were overly vocational. He advocated education that would fulfill and enrich the current lives of students as well as prepare them for the future. The activity program of education, which derived from the theories of Dewey, stressed the educational development of the child in terms of individual needs and interests. It was the major method of instruction for most of the 20th century in elementary schools of the United States and many other countries.

C

Piaget

The work of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget had a major impact on educational theory in the early 20th century, particularly in Europe. Piaget wrote extensively on the development of thought and language patterns in children. He examined children’s conceptions of number, space, logic, geometry, physical reality, and moral judgment. Piaget believed that children, by exploring their environment, create their own cognitive, or intellectual, conceptions of reality. By continually interacting with their environment, they keep adding to and reshaping their conceptions of the world. Piaget asserted that human intelligence develops in stages, each of which enhances a person’s understanding of the world in a new and more complex way.

	Political Influences

Political leadership has affected the education systems of many countries in the 20th century. In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) under Communism and in Germany under the leadership of National Socialism, totalitarian systems of government imposed strict guidelines on the organization of national education systems. Many other countries during the 20th century—including the United States—have sought to balance control of their education systems between the federal government and local governments or private organizations. Most countries in the 20th century have also taken steps to increase access to education.

A

In the United States

Local and state governments have retained most of the responsibility for operating public education in the United States during the 20th century. Because individual communities often have different educational priorities and different abilities to finance public education systems, school systems vary from one region to another. State governments—and occasionally the federal government—attempt to reduce disparity between regions by establishing various requirements for school financing, academic standards, and curriculum.

In the early 20th century access to education in the United States was largely divided along racial lines. State laws segregated most schools in the American South by race. No such laws existed in northern states, but school districts there often established district boundaries to ensure separate facilities for black and white students. In both northern and southern states, school facilities for African American students were usually inadequate, public transportation to such schools was insufficient or nonexistent, and public expenditures per student fell well below that provided per student in white schools. In 1954 the Supreme Court of the United States decided in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that separate facilities for black and white students resulted in unequal educational opportunities, and that such segregation was unconstitutional. Since then, public school systems throughout the United States have attempted to desegregate schools and to provide equal educational opportunity for all students. Integration efforts and affirmative action programs in American schools have helped enable African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and other minorities to increase high school and college attendance rates and to make impressive gains on standardized test scores.

B

In the Soviet Union

After the Russian Revolution in 1917 the Communist Party’s Central Committee made the important educational decisions in the Soviet Union. In the 1920s Communist leader Joseph Stalin established a rigid curriculum for Soviet education that stressed science, mathematics, and Communist ideology. Soviet schools attracted large numbers of foreign visitors, especially individuals from developing countries. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite sent into space. To many educators around the world, this achievement indicated the advanced state of Soviet technological learning. Soviet educator Anton Semyonovich Makarenko also brought international recognition to the Soviet education system for his work on the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents.

Many observers criticized the rigidity and authoritarianism of the Soviet education system. In 1989 and 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev, then the general secretary of the Communist Party and the leader of the USSR, tried to reform the country’s education system by allowing schools more local control. However, the nation was suffering from political upheaval and a weak economy, which hampered efforts aimed at educational reform.

With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the former Soviet republics, such as Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia, became independent nations that controlled their own political and education systems. Education in Russia and the other new countries faces especially daunting obstacles because the struggling economies of these nations often provide insufficient funds for education. Other problems in educational administration and schooling stem from tensions between the many different ethnic and language groups in most of these nations. While Russia has a predominantly Russian population, over 100 other ethnic groups also comprise its population.

C

In Germany

The fall of Communism has also affected education in Germany. The disintegration of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991, and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989 helped lead to the collapse of the Communist government in East Germany. East Germany reunified with West Germany in 1990 and the West German school system was extended throughout the reunited nation. The Federal Republic of Germany follows a joint federal-state system of education. The Grundgesetz (Basic Law) gives individual German states the major responsibility for primary and secondary education. In higher education, the federal government works in conjunction with the states.

The kindergarten, developed by Froebel in the 19th century, remains popular in Germany. Children begin compulsory education at age six in the Grundschule, the basic primary school, and continue there until they are nine years old. When they finish primary school, German students go to separate secondary schools, such as the Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium, and Gesamtschule. The Hauptschule offers a general education, the Realschule prepares students for middle-level careers as managers and supervisors, the Gymnasium is a university preparatory school, and the Gesamtschulen is a comprehensive secondary school. German education also includes extensive vocational, technical, and apprenticeship arrangements.

D

In France

The central government controls most education in France. A federal department, the Ministry of Education, sets the curriculum so that all students study the same subjects at the same ages throughout the country. French schools emphasize careful thinking and correct use of the French language. The lycee, the traditional academic secondary school, prepares students to attend universities. The grandes écoles, the great schools, are universities that train future leaders for government service, business administration, and engineering. Aside from providing free elementary and secondary education, the French central government provides financial aid to Catholic schools. In 1960 the government also began providing financial subsidies to private schools that meet state standards.

E

In Developing Nations

The 20th century has also been marked by the emergence of national school systems among developing nations, particularly in Asia and Africa. Compulsory elementary education has become nearly universal, but evidence indicates that large numbers of children—perhaps as many as 50 percent of those age 6 to 18 throughout the world—do not attend school. To improve education on the elementary and adult levels, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conducts literacy campaigns and other educational projects. UNESCO attempts to put every child in the world into school and to eliminate illiteracy. Some progress has been noted, but it has become obvious that considerable time and effort are needed to produce universal literacy.

__________________________
International Education Systems

History of Education II

History of Education II

	Educational Theory in the 17th Century

Educators of the 17th century developed new ways of thinking about education. Czech education reformer Jan Komensky, known as Comenius, was particularly influential. A bishop of the Moravian Church, Comenius escaped religious persecution by taking refuge in Poland, Hungary, Sweden, and The Netherlands. He created a new educational philosophy called Pansophism, or universal knowledge, designed to bring about worldwide understanding and peace. Comenius advised teachers to use children’s senses rather than memorization in instruction. To make learning interesting for children, he wrote The Gate of Tongues Unlocked (1631), a book for teaching Latin in the student’s own language. He also wrote Orbis Sensualium Pictus (1658; The Visible World in Pictures, 1659) consisting of illustrations that labeled objects in both their Latin and vernacular names. It was one of the first illustrated books written especially for children.

The work of English philosopher John Locke influenced education in Britain and North America. Locke examined how people acquire ideas in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). He asserted that at birth the human mind is a blank slate, or tabula rasa, and empty of ideas. We acquire knowledge, he argued, from the information about the objects in the world that our senses bring to us. We begin with simple ideas and then combine them into more complex ones.

Locke believed that individuals acquire knowledge most easily when they first consider simple ideas and then gradually combine them into more complex ones. In Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1697), Locke recommended practical learning to prepare people to manage their social, economic, and political affairs efficiently. He believed that a sound education began in early childhood and insisted that the teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic be gradual and cumulative. Locke’s curriculum included conversational learning of foreign languages, especially French, mathematics, history, physical education, and games.

	Education During the Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century produced important changes in education and educational theory. During the Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason, educators believed people could improve their lives and society by using their reason, their powers of critical thinking. The Enlightenment’s ideas had a significant impact on the American Revolution (1775-1783) and early educational policy in the United States. In particular, American philosopher and scientist Benjamin Franklin emphasized the value of utilitarian and scientific education in American schools. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, stressed the importance of civic education to the citizens of a democratic nation. The Enlightenment principles that considered education as an instrument of social reform and improvement remain fundamental characteristics of American education policy.

	Education in the 19th Century

The foundations of modern education were established in the 19th century. Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, inspired by the work of French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, developed an educational method based on the natural world and the senses. Pestalozzi established schools in Switzerland and Germany to educate children and train teachers. He affirmed that schools should resemble secure and loving homes.

Like Locke and Rousseau, Pestalozzi believed that thought began with sensation and that teaching should use the senses. Holding that children should study the objects in their natural environment, Pestalozzi developed a so-called “object lesson” that involved exercises in learning form, number, and language. Pupils determined and traced an object’s form, counted objects, and named them. Students progressed from these lessons to exercises in drawing, writing, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and reading.

Pestalozzi employed the following principles in teaching: (1) begin with the concrete object before introducing abstract concepts; (2) begin with the immediate environment before dealing with what is distant and remote; (3) begin with easy exercises before introducing complex ones; and (4) always proceed gradually, cumulatively, and slowly. American educator Henry Barnard, the first U.S. Commissioner of Education, introduced Pestalozzi’s ideas to the United States in the late 19th century. Barnard also worked for the establishment of free public high schools for students of all classes of American society.

German philosopher Johann Herbart emphasized moral education and designed a highly structured teaching technique. Maintaining that education’s primary goal is moral development, Herbart claimed good character rested on knowledge while misconduct resulted from an inadequate education. Knowledge, he said, should create an “apperceptive mass”—a network of ideas—in a person’s mind to which new ideas can be added. He wanted to include history, geography, and literature in the school curriculum as well as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Based on his work, Herbart’s followers designed a five-step teaching method: (1) prepare the pupils to be ready for the new lesson, (2) present the new lesson, (3) associate the new lesson with ideas studied earlier, (4) use examples to illustrate the lesson’s major points, and (5) test pupils to ensure they had learned the new lesson.

A

Kindergarten

German educator Friedrich Froebel created the earliest kindergarten, a form of preschool education that literally means “child’s garden” in German. Froebel, who had an unhappy childhood, urged teachers to think back to their own childhoods to find insights they could use in their teaching. Froebel studied at Pestalozzi’s institute in Yverdon, Switzerland, from 1808 to 1810. While agreeing with Pestalozzi’s emphasis on the natural world, a kindly school atmosphere, and the object lesson, Froebel felt that Pestalozzi’s method was not philosophical enough. Froebel believed that every child’s inner self contained a spiritual essence—a spark of divine energy—that enabled a child to learn independently.

In 1837 Froebel opened a kindergarten in Blankenburg with a curriculum that featured songs, stories, games, gifts, and occupations. The songs and stories stimulated the imaginations of children and introduced them to folk heroes and cultural values. Games developed children’s social and physical skills. By playing with each other, children learned to participate in a group. Froebel’s gifts, including such objects as spheres, cubes, and cylinders, were designed to enable the child to understand the concept that the object represented. Occupations consisted of materials children could use in building activities. For example, clay, sand, cardboard, and sticks could be used to build castles, cities, and mountains.

Immigrants from Germany brought the kindergarten concept to the United States, where it became part of the American school system. Margarethe Meyer Schurz opened a German-language kindergarten in Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1855. Elizabeth Peabody established an English-language kindergarten and a training school for kindergarten teachers in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1860. William Torrey Harris, superintendent of schools in St. Louis, Missouri, and later a U.S. commissioner of education, made the kindergarten part of the American public school system.

B

Social Darwinism

British sociologist Herbert Spencer strongly influenced education in the mid-19th century with social theories based on the theory of evolution developed by British naturalist Charles Darwin. Spencer revised Darwin’s biological theory into social Darwinism, a body of ideas that applied the theory of evolution to society, politics, the economy, and education. Spencer maintained that in modern industrialized societies, as in earlier simpler societies, the “fittest” individuals of each generation survived because they were intelligent and adaptable. Competition caused the brightest and strongest individuals to climb to the top of the society. Urging unlimited competition, Spencer wanted government to restrict its activities to the bare minimum. He opposed public schools, claiming that they would create a monopoly for mediocrity by catering to students of low ability. He wanted private schools to compete against each other in trying to attract the brightest students and most capable teachers. Spencer’s social Darwinism became very popular in the last half of the 19th century when industrialization was changing American and Western European societies.

Spencer believed that people in industrialized society needed scientific rather than classical education. Emphasizing education in practical skills, he advocated a curriculum featuring lessons in five basic human activities:
(1) those needed for self-preservation such as health, diet, and exercise;
(2) those needed to perform one’s occupation so that a person can earn a living, including the basic skills of reading, writing, computation, and knowledge of the sciences;
(3) those needed for parenting, to raise children properly;
(4) those needed to participate in society and politics; and
(5) those needed for leisure and recreation. Spencer’s ideas on education were eagerly accepted in the United States. In 1918 the Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education, a report issued by the National Education Association, used Spencer’s list of activities in its recommendations for American education.

	National Systems of Education

In the 19th century, governments in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and other European countries organized national systems of public education. The United States, Canada, Argentina, Uruguay, and other countries in North and South America also established national education systems based largely on European models.

A

In the United Kingdom

The Church of England and other churches often operated primary schools in the United Kingdom, where students paid a small fee to study the Bible, catechism, reading, writing, and arithmetic. In 1833 the British Parliament passed a law that gave some government funds to these schools. In 1862 the United Kingdom established a school grant system, called payment by results, in which schools received funds based on their students’ performance on reading, writing, and arithmetic tests. The Education Act of 1870, called the Forster Act, authorized local government boards to establish public board schools. The United Kingdom then had two schools systems: board schools operated by the government and voluntary schools conducted by the churches and other private organizations.

In 1878 the United Kingdom passed laws that limited child labor in factories and made it possible for more children to attend school. To make schooling available to working-class children, many schools with limited public and private funds used monitorial methods of instruction. Monitorial education, developed by British educators Joseph Lancaster and Andrew Bell, used student monitors to conduct lessons. It offered the fledgling public education system the advantage of allowing schools to hire fewer teachers to instruct the large number of new students. Schools featuring monitorial education used older boys, called monitors, who were more advanced in their studies, to teach younger children. Monitorial education concentrated on basic skills—reading, writing, and arithmetic—that were broken down into small parts or units. After a monitor had learned a unit—such as spelling words of two or three letters that began with the letter A—he would, under the master teacher’s supervision, teach this unit to a group of students. By the end of the 19th century, the monitorial system was abandoned in British schools because it provided a very limited education.

B

In Russia

Russian tsar Alexander II initiated education reforms leading to the Education Statute of 1864. This law created zemstvos, local government units, which operated primary schools. In addition to zemstvo schools, the Russian Orthodox Church conducted parish schools. While the number of children attending school slowly increased, most of Russia’s population remained illiterate. Peasants often refused to send their children to school so that they could work on the farms. More boys attended school than girls since many peasant parents considered female education unnecessary. Fearing that too much education would make people discontented with their lives, the tsar’s government provided only limited schooling to instill political loyalty and religious piety.

C

In the United States

Before the 19th century elementary and secondary education in the United States was organized on a local or regional level. Nearly all schools operated on private funds exclusively. However, beginning in the 1830s and 1840s, American educators such as Henry Barnard and Horace Mann argued for the creation of a school system operated by individual states that would provide an equal education for all American children. In 1852 Massachusetts passed the first laws calling for free public education, and by 1918 all U.S. states had passed compulsory school attendance laws. See Public Education in the United States.

	Education in the Twentieth Century

At the beginning of the 20th century, the writings of Swedish feminist and educator Ellen Key influenced education around the world. Key’s book Barnets århundrade (1900; The Century of the Child,1909) was translated into many languages and inspired so-called progressive educators in various countries. Progressive education was a system of teaching that emphasized the needs and potentials of the child, rather than the needs of society or the principles of religion. Among the influential progressive educators were Hermann Lietz and Georg Michael Kerschensteiner of Germany, Bertrand Russell of England, and Maria Montessori of Italy.

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History of Education I

History of Education I

Outline

Introduction Education in Preliterate Societies Education in Ancient Africa and Asia Education in Ancient Greece Education in Ancient Rome Ancient Jewish Education Medieval Education Education During the Renaissance Education During the Protestant Reformation Educational Theory in the 17th Century Education During the Enlightenment Education in the 19th Century National Systems of Education Education in the Twentieth Century Political Influences

	Introduction

Education, History of, theories, methods, and administration of schools and other agencies of information from ancient times to the present. Education developed from the human struggle for survival and enlightenment. It may be formal or informal. Informal education refers to the general social process by which human beings acquire the knowledge and skills needed to function in their culture. Formal education refers to the process by which teachers instruct students in courses of study within institutions.

	Education in Preliterate Societies

Before the invention of reading and writing, people lived in an environment in which they struggled to survive against natural forces, animals, and other humans. To survive, preliterate people developed skills that grew into cultural and educational patterns. For a particular group’s culture to continue into the future, people had to transmit it, or pass it on, from adults to children. The earliest educational processes involved sharing information about gathering food and providing shelter; making weapons and other tools; learning language; and acquiring the values, behavior, and religious rites or practices of a given culture.

Through direct, informal education, parents, elders, and priests taught children the skills and roles they would need as adults. These lessons eventually formed the moral codes that governed behavior. Since they lived before the invention of writing, preliterate people used an oral tradition, or story telling, to pass on their culture and history from one generation to the next. By using language, people learned to create and use symbols, words, or signs to express their ideas. When these symbols grew into pictographs and letters, human beings created a written language and made the great cultural leap to literacy.

	Education in Ancient Africa and Asia

In ancient Egypt, which flourished from about 3000 bc to about 500 bc, priests in temple schools taught not only religion but also the principles of writing, the sciences, mathematics, and architecture. Similarly in India, priests conducted most of the formal education. Beginning in about 1200 bc Indian priests taught the principles of the Veda, the sacred texts of Hinduism, as well as science, grammar, and philosophy. Formal education in China dates to about 2000 bc, though it thrived particularly during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, from 770 to 256 bc (see China: The Eastern Zhou). The curriculum stressed philosophy, poetry, and religion, in accord with the teachings of Confucius, Laozi (Lao-tzu), and other philosophers.

	Education in Ancient Greece

Historians have looked to ancient Greece as one of the origins of Western formal education. The Iliad and the Odyssey, epic poems attributed to Homer and written sometime in the 8th century bc, created a cultural tradition that gave the Greeks a sense of group identity. In their dramatic account of Greek struggles, Homer’s epics served important educational purposes. The legendary Greek warriors depicted in Homer’s work, such as Agamemnon, Odysseus, and Achilles, were heroes who served as models for the young Greeks.

Ancient Greece was divided into small and often competing city-states, or poleis, such as Athens, Sparta, and Thebes. Athens emphasized a humane and democratic society and education, but only about one-third of the people in Athens were free citizens. Slaves and residents from other countries or city-states made up the rest of the population. Only the sons of free citizens attended school. The Athenians believed a free man should have a liberal education in order to perform his civic duties and for his own personal development. The education of women depended upon the customs of the particular Greek city-state. In Athens, where women had no legal or economic rights, most women did not attend school. Some girls, however, were educated at home by tutors. Slaves and other noncitizens had either no formal education or very little. Sparta, the chief political enemy of Athens, was a dictatorship that used education for military training and drill. In contrast to Athens, Spartan girls received more schooling but it was almost exclusively athletic training to prepare them to be healthy mothers of future Spartan soldiers.

In the 400s bc, the Sophists, a group of wandering teachers, began to teach in Athens. The Sophists claimed that they could teach any subject or skill to anyone who wished to learn it. They specialized in teaching grammar, logic, and rhetoric, subjects that eventually formed the core of the liberal arts. The Sophists were more interested in preparing their students to argue persuasively and win arguments than in teaching principles of truth and morality.

Unlike the Sophists, the Greek philosopher Socrates sought to discover and teach universal principles of truth, beauty, and goodness. Socrates, who died in 399 bc, claimed that true knowledge existed within everyone and needed to be brought to consciousness. His educational method, called the Socratic method, consisted of asking probing questions that forced his students to think deeply about the meaning of life, truth, and justice.

In 387 bc Plato, who had studied under Socrates, established a school in Athens called the Academy. Plato believed in an unchanging world of perfect ideas or universal concepts. He asserted that since true knowledge is the same in every place at every time, education, like truth, should be unchanging. Plato described his educational ideal in the Republic, one of the most notable works of Western philosophy. Plato’s Republic describes a model society, or republic, ruled by highly intelligent philosopher-kings. Warriors make up the republic’s second class of people. The lowest class, the workers, provide food and the other products for all the people of the republic. In Plato’s ideal educational system, each class would receive a different kind of instruction to prepare for their various roles in society.

In 335 bc Plato’s student, Aristotle, founded his own school in Athens called the Lyceum. Believing that human beings are essentially rational, Aristotle thought people could discover natural laws that governed the universe and then follow these laws in their lives. He also concluded that educated people who used reason to make decisions would lead a life of moderation in which they avoided dangerous extremes.

In the 4th century bc Greek orator Isocrates developed a method of education designed to prepare students to be competent orators who could serve as government officials. Isocrates’s students studied rhetoric, politics, ethics, and history. They examined model orations and practiced public speaking. Isocrates’s methods of education directly influenced such Roman educational theorists as Cicero and Quintilian.

	Education in Ancient Rome

While the Greeks were developing their civilization in the areas surrounding the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Romans were gaining control of the Italian peninsula and areas of the western Mediterranean. The Greeks’ education focused on the study of philosophy. The Romans, on the other hand, were preoccupied with war, conquest, politics, and civil administration. As in Greece, only a minority of Romans attended school. Schooling was for those who had the money to pay tuition and the time to attend classes. While girls from wealthy families occasionally learned to read and write at home, boys attended a primary school, called aludus. In secondary schools boys studied Latin and Greek grammar taught by Greek slaves, called pedagogues.

After primary and secondary school, wealthy young men often attended schools of rhetoric or oratory that prepared them to be leaders in government and administration. Cicero, a 1st century bc Roman senator, combined Greek and Roman ideas on how to educate orators in his book De Oratore. Like Isocrates, Cicero believed orators should be educated in liberal arts subjects such as grammar, rhetoric, logic, mathematics, and astronomy. He also asserted that they should study ethics, military science, natural science, geography, history, and law.

Quintilian, an influential Roman educator who lived in the 1st century ad, wrote that education should be based on the stages of individual development from childhood to adulthood. Quintilian devised specific lessons for each stage. He also advised teachers to make their lessons suited to the student’s readiness and ability to learn new material. He urged teachers to motivate students by making learning interesting and attractive.

	Ancient Jewish Education

Education among the Jewish people also had a profound influence on Western learning. The ancient Jews had great respect for the printed word and believed that God revealed truth to them in the Bible. Most information on ancient Jewish goals and methods of education comes from the Bible and the Talmud, a book of religious and civil law. Jewish religious leaders, known as rabbis, advised parents to teach their children religious beliefs, law, ethical practices, and vocational skills. Both boys and girls were introduced to religion by studying the Torah, the most sacred document of Judaism. Rabbis taught in schools within synagogues, places of worship and religious study.

	Medieval Education

During the Middle Ages, or the medieval period, which lasted roughly from the 5th to the 15th century, Western society and education were heavily shaped by Christianity, particularly the Roman Catholic Church. The Church operated parish, chapel, and monastery schools at the elementary level. Schools in monasteries and cathedrals offered secondary education. Much of the teaching in these schools was directed at learning Latin, the old Roman language used by the church in its ceremonies and teachings. The church provided some limited opportunities for the education of women in religious communities or convents. Convents had libraries and schools to help prepare nuns to follow the religious rules of their communities. Merchant and craft guilds also maintained some schools that provided basic education and training in specific crafts. Knights received training in military tactics and the code of chivalry.

As in the Greek and Roman eras, only a minority of people went to school during the medieval period. Schools were attended primarily by persons planning to enter religious life such as priests, monks, or nuns. The vast majority of people were serfs who served as agricultural workers on the estates of feudal lords. The serfs, who did not attend school, were generally illiterate (see Serfdom).

In the 10th and early 11th centuries, Arabic learning had a pronounced influence on Western education. From contact with Arab scholars in North Africa and Spain, Western educators learned new ways of thinking about mathematics, natural science, medicine, and philosophy. The Arabic number system was especially important, and became the foundation of Western arithmetic. Arab scholars also preserved and translated into Arabic the works of such influential Greek scholars as Aristotle, Euclid, Galen, and Ptolemy. Because many of these works had disappeared from Europe by the Middle Ages, they might have been lost forever if Arab scholars such as Avicenna and Averroës had not preserved them.

In the 11th century medieval scholars developed Scholasticism, a philosophical and educational movement that used both human reason and revelations from the Bible. Upon encountering the works of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers from Arab scholars, the Scholastics attempted to reconcile Christian theology with Greek philosophy. Scholasticism reached its high point in the Summa Theologiae of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century Dominican theologian who taught at the University of Paris. Aquinas reconciled the authority of religious faith, represented by the Scriptures, with Greek reason, represented by Aristotle. Aquinas described the teacher’s vocation as one that combines faith, love, and learning.

The work of Aquinas and other Scholastics took place in the medieval institutions of higher education, the universities. The famous European universities of Paris, Salerno, Bologna, Oxford, Cambridge, and Padua grew out of the Scholastics-led intellectual revival of the 12th and 13th centuries. The name university comes from the Latin word universitas, or associations, in reference to the associations that students and teachers organized to discuss academic issues. Medieval universities offered degrees in the liberal arts and in professional studies such as theology, law, and medicine.

	Education During the Renaissance

The Renaissance, or rebirth of learning, began in Europe in the 14th century and reached its height in the 15th century. Scholars became more interested in the humanist features—that is, the secular or worldly rather than the religious aspects—of the Greek and Latin classics. Humanist educators found their models of literary style in the classics. The Renaissance was a particularly powerful force in Italy, most notably in art, literature, and architecture. In literature, the works of such Italian writers as Dante Aleghieri, Petrarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio became especially important.

Humanist educators designed teaching methods to prepare well-rounded, liberally educated persons. Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus was particularly influential. Erasmus believed that understanding and conversing about the meaning of literature was more important than memorizing it, as had been required at many of the medieval religious schools. He advised teachers to study such fields as archaeology, astronomy, mythology, history, and Scripture.

The invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century made books more widely available and increased literacy rates (see Printing). But school attendance did not increase greatly during the Renaissance. Elementary schools educated middle-class children while lower-class children received little, if any, formal schooling. Children of the nobility and upper classes attended humanist secondary schools.

Educational opportunities for women improved slightly during the Renaissance, especially for the upper classes. Some girls from wealthy families attended schools of the royal court or received private lessons at home. The curriculum studied by young women was still based on the belief that only certain subjects, such as art, music, needlework, dancing, and poetry, were suited for females. For working-class girls, especially rural peasants, education was still limited to training in household duties such as cooking and sewing.

	Education During the Protestant Reformation

The religious Reformation of the 16th century marked a decline in the authority of the Catholic Church and contributed to the emergence of the middle classes in Europe. Protestant religious reformers, such as John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Huldreich Zwingli, rejected the authority of the Catholic pope and created reformed Christian, or Protestant, churches. In their ardent determination to instruct followers to read the Bible in their native language, reformers extended literacy to the masses. They established vernacular primary schools that offered a basic curriculum of reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion for children in their own language. Vernacular schools in England, for example, used English to teach their pupils. As they argued with each other and with the Roman Catholics on religious matters, Protestant educators wrote catechisms—primary books that summarized their religious doctrine—in a question and answer format.

While the vernacular schools educated both boys and girls at the primary level, upper-class boys attended preparatory and secondary schools that continued to emphasize Latin and Greek. The gymnasium in Germany, the Latin grammar school in England, and the lycee in France were preparatory schools that taught young men the classical languages of Latin and Greek required to enter universities.

Martin Luther believed the state, family, and school, along with the church, were leaders of the Reformation. Since the family shaped children’s character, Luther encouraged parents to teach their children reading and religion. Each family should pray together, read the Bible, study the catechism, and practice a useful trade. Luther believed that government should assist schools in educating literate, productive, and religious citizens. One of Luther’s colleagues, German religious reformer Melanchthon, wrote the school code for the German region of Württemberg, which became a model for other regions of Germany and influenced education throughout Europe. According to this code, the government was responsible for supervising schools and licensing teachers.

The Protestant reformers retained the dual-class school system that had developed in the Renaissance. Vernacular schools provided primary instruction for the lower classes, and the various classical humanist and Latin grammar schools prepared upper-class males for higher education.

_______________

International Education

The USA

The USA

Overseas students studying in the USA for the first time may find something vaguely familiar about their
surroundings. Thanks to the popularity of the US television and film industry,
many students will already have come into contact with some of the more popular
sights and sounds of this vast country. However, the diversity of cultural and
educational experiences on offer may come as more of a surprise. Students
interested in coming to the USA are faced with a number of choices concerning
courses and places to stay. The high reputation of its education system also
makes the USA one of the more popular study destinations for overseas students.

Language studies

There are many English language schools in the USA, both privately
operated and those that are part of a larger college or institution. If a
language school is located on a larger university campus, it may well be
referred to as an intensive English programme or an IEP. Some on-campus
language schools are privately operated. There are two main accrediting bodies
in the USA that are able to provide an assurance that programmes with their
endorsement have met agreed standards in relation to their education
programmes. Accet is a general education standards body with special provisions
for English language training, while CEA is an English language programme
accreditation body (see below - useful addresses). The majority of
international students in the USA come from Asia.


Secondary education in the USA
Boarding schools in the USA have a very high academic reputation and aim to
fully prepare students for success at university. Many offer English language
support for international students, whether through a summer school, a 'bridge'
programme where international students spend five or six months receiving
intensive English instruction before joining mainstream classes or separate
English language classes in conjunction with mainstream classes. International
students can opt to stay with host families or in residential accommodation.


Higher education in the USA
The most popular courses chosen by international students who want to study
in the USA are business and management, engineering, mathematics and computer
sciences. There are over 3,700 colleges and universities in the USA, giving
international students plenty of variety to choose from. Classes are generally
small, and students are expected to contribute to in-class discussion.
Professors meet with students in their offices and even share coffee or meals
with them. The academic year runs from September to May or June.


Explaining undergraduate and graduate study
Colleges and universities are sometimes referred to as 'school' in the USA.
A university is in fact a group of schools, for example, school of law or
graduate school. There are two main types of study: undergraduate and
postgraduate study. Undergraduate programmes lead to associate degrees and
bachelor's degrees. Junior colleges only offer associate degrees, which are two
years in length. Students often transfer to a college or university after
gaining an associate degree to complete a bachelor's degree which takes an
additional two years.

Community colleges also offer two-year college transfer programmes where
students gain a broad base of general knowledge before transferring to university.
At a college or university, the first two years of undergraduate study are
called freshman and sophomore years. The third and fourth years are called
junior and senior years.

In the first two years, students study a variety of subjects, choosing their
'major' field of specialisation when they enter their junior year. In some
institutions they also take a 'minor' field, and in most cases students can
still take elective subjects if they wish. Some students do not specialise in
one field until they reach graduate level. Students gain credits while
studying. One course is awarded credits equal to the number of hours studied
per week, and there are usually three to five credits for one subject. Four or
five courses are expected to be taken by students to make up a full programme
per year.

At undergraduate level, students can transfer from one university to another,
taking the credits they have earned with them. Credits can also be earned at
overseas institutions.

Graduate programmes lead to master's and doctoral degrees. Many master's
courses take one year to complete, although the popular Master of Business
Administration (MBA) takes two years. Doctoral degrees (PhDs) take three or
more years to attain, and can take international students up to six years to
finish. PhD students have to conduct first-hand research and write an in-depth
thesis on a chosen subject.


Scholarships available
There is very little aid available for international students at
undergraduate level in the USA. However, a few individual private schools may
have funds available for particularly able international students. Enquiries
should be addressed to the International Admissions Office at each school to
find out if there are funds available. More assistance is available for postgraduate
students, often in the form of teaching or research assistantships. Contact
individual universities or visit the international education financial
assistance website, http://www.iefa.com/, for more
information on funding your studies in the USA.


Crucial visa info and work rights
Visitor (B-2) visas are required by all students who want to stay in the USA for a limited time, except those from the countries listed below. However, visitor visas are only issued for the primary purpose of tourism or business. Part-time study, or full-time study for a short period, is permitted but this is subject to interpretation by the visa issuing officer. Applications should be made to your nearest US embassy or consulate.

As a full-time student, you will receive an F-1 or M-1 visa. As an exchange visitor,
you will receive a J-1 visa (this is usually for training, research or teaching purposes only).

In order to apply for a visa, you will first need to be accepted at an educational institution, which will normally send you a document called an I-20 form. This is an application for an F-1 visa. The M vis1a is for non-academic or vocational studies.

You will also have to fill in an Application Form DS-156, together with a Form DS-158.
Some applicants may have to fill in Form DS-157.
Take your completed forms and your passport to your local US embassy or
consular official. You will also need to get an 'Affidavit of Support' form
from the embassy or consular and fill it in to prove that you have adequate
financial funds, and show bank statements to this effect. You may also need to
prove that you are in good health. The embassy will then conduct an interview
with you.

All applicants for student visas have to pay a non-refundable application fee
of US$100.

Visitor visa holders are not permitted to work in the USA. However, F-1 visa holders can work for up to 20 hours per week in their first year at the educational institution they are attending.
The money earned from such work will probably not cover living expenses. After
one year, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service INS may give you permission
to accept off-campus employment. Visit the US government website, http://www.travel.state.gov/, for the latest visa information.


Travelling around the USA

Travelling by air can be a cheap and convenient way of getting around the USA,
especially when travelling from coast to coast. Most airlines offer special
discount fares between popular cities. Most also offer standby fares, which can
be less than half the standard fare, but you are not guaranteed a seat. Standby
fares are not usually advertised. You can find out about them through an
airline's ticket office.


Travelling by coach is another inexpensive way of touring the country. Coach
operators, Greyhound and Continental Trailways, both offer low-cost rates for
travellers. Greyhound offers an International Ameripass that is only available
to travellers from outside the USA and Canada, and allows unlimited stopovers
for between four and 60 days. It costs US$135 for a four-day pass. An
International North America CanAm Pass is valid in the USA and Canada for
between 15 and 60 days and costs from US$293 for a 15-day pass.

Amtrak is the main train operator in the country, and again a special discount
rail pass for international travellers is available. This pass is valid for 15
or 30 days and costs from US$295. A Student Advantage Card costs US$20 for a
year and offers students a 15 per cent discount on Greyhound and Amtrak fares.

The USA is, of course, a great country for road-trips, and most Americans would
be lost without a car. Petrol prices are competitive in the USA and hiring a
car is a realistic option for many students over the age of 25. You will need
an international driver's licence.

Average prices
Two-week general English course; US$470
Two weeks' homestay accommodation; US$384
Two weeks' residential accommodation; US$466
One-year independent boarding school fees; US$26,375
One-year independent day school fees; US$17,350
One-year undergraduate tuition fees (state institution); US$7,000- US$15,000
One-year undergraduate tuition fees (private institution); US$13,000- US$29,000
One-year postgraduate tuition fees; US$10,000- US$40,000


Language exams available: Toefl, Toeic



The application process

Once you have decided which school you would like to attend, you need to
contact that institution to enquire about their admission procedures. It is
also a good idea to contact other institutions because a place at your first
choice of school may not be available. Each school will ask you to provide a
completed application form and will usually ask for some or all of the
following: certified transcripts of your academic records (including your
degree if necessary); proof of funding – on a form provided by the university,
which has to be signed by a bank manager or accompanied by bank statements as
requested; letters of recommendation; essays or personal statements; admission
test scores; relevant language proficiency test scores (eg Toefl); and an
application fee of between US$30 and US$100 which is non-refundable. It is
advisable to apply to all institutions as early as possible. You should start
your search for a suitable school one-and-a-half years before you wish to
enrol. Remember that Toefl results can take up to six weeks to be processed and results are valid for two
years so take one as early as possible.



Visa free countries

Andorra, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco,
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Uruguay.



What are admissions tests?

Admissions tests are standardised tests that are available worldwide and
indicate aptitude and achievement (eg, SAT tests) and are required for entry to
some colleges or universities. There are also tests to measure English language
proficiency (Toefl/Toeic). These tests are taken at official test centres either in the USA or in your
home country and the scores can be mailed directly to the schools that you
indicate on your test form. More information about applying to schools and
admissions tests is available at the website, www.fulbright.co.uk/eas/undergrad/ugguide.html



The US education system

-Kindergarten age 4-6 years
-Primary school age 6-12 school yrs 1-6
-Secondary school: middle school/junior high school age 12-15 years school yrs 7-9
-Senior high school/high school age 16-18 years school yrs 10-12

Private/state college or university or
Two-year college/junior college or
Community college or
Institute of technology or
Technical institute or
Church-related colleges and universities


English language students in the USA
by country of origin 2001

Japan 30%
Korea 21%
Brazil 7.3%
Taiwan 5.6%
Switzerland 5.4%
Germany 3.5%
Italy 3.4%
China 2.5
Colombia 2.5%
Thailand 2.2%
Others 16.6%

Source: Language Travel Magazine



Insurance

Many schools, colleges and universities require international students to buy
health insurance before they arrive, to protect themselves against the very
high cost of medical treatment in the USA.

In addition, most colleges and universities provide free medical examinations
and treatment for minor injuries and illnesses. However, health and accident
insurance is advised in all cases even if the school does not require it. Most
educational institutions offer a comprehensive policy themselves, which
generally costs at least US$500 and covers doctor's visits, medicine,
hospitalisation, surgery, ambulance care, X-rays and laboratory tests. These
policies do not cover dental work or eye examinations and glasses.


International students in higher education in the USA
by country of origin 2001/02

China 18.2%
South Korea 8.3%
India 7.3%
Japan 6.7%
Germany 5.8%
Canada 4.5%
UK 3.9%
Russia 3.6%
France 3.5%
Italy 2.6%
Spain 2.6%
Other 33%

Source: IIE



Addresses

American Association of Intensive English Programmes (AAIEP), 229 North 33rd St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Tel: +1 21 58955856 Fax: +1 2158955854
Email: aaiep@drexel.edu

UCIEP Central Office, English Language Institute, George Mason University, MS4C4, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA, 22030-4444
Tel: +1 70 39933660 Fax: +1 7039933664
Email: info@uciep.org

Company Commission on English Language Programe Accreditation (CEA)
Terry O'Donnell, 700 South Washington Street, Suite 200, Alexandria, VA, USA VA 22314
Tel: +1 703-159-2070, Fax +1 703 683-8099
E-mail: todonnell@cea-accredit.org

ACCET (Accreditation)
Roger Williams, Continuing Education and Training, 1200 19th Street NW, Washington, DC, USA 20036
Tel: +1 2029551113, Fax: +1 2029551118
E-mail: rjwilliams@accet.org


______________________________
bei^® E-mail: bei@consultant.com

Agent

Agent
Choosing a course of study overseas can be one of the most important decisions of your life. Getting advice from an education or language agent in your own country is the next best thing to actually visiting the institution you intend to study in yourself.

What are agents?
Language travel agents, also called educational consultants or student recruiters, can play a useful – if not vital – role in helping you choose a language school, high school or university. They can book your course, accommodation and help with any special requirements you may have. They usually also help you with your pre-departure preparation, for example, by organising English testing or providing you with practical information about living in another country. Agents might also be able to help you with any problems that arise while you are abroad and can be a useful contact for anxious parents.

There are many agents worldwide, and most receive a commission from the educational institutions they represent, although they might also charge you a handling fee to cover their administrative costs and time.

What are the advantages of using agents?
The process of choosing an overseas education programme and study destination can be a difficult business. Travelling to another country can be a scary experience, especially if it is your first time away from home, and any confusion or mistake regarding your choice of institution or course will only make it more difficult to settle in and make the most of your experience. Agents take the uncertainty out of the whole experience by ensuring before you set off that your chosen institution and course are the best ones for you.

Agents usually represent a whole range of schools, and have often visited most of them, so you can rely on their advice concerning which type of institution and course will suit you best. They will usually have a personal link with the institution so they can provide you with up-to-date information in your own language about the course and school. They may also be able to put you in touch with students who have studied at or who are studying in the same institution, so that you can get a first-hand account of what to expect when you arrive.

Agents can also be vital in explaining and helping with the application and visa process, something which can seem very complicated in a foreign language. Because agents deal with school and visa applications every day, they are in a good position to give you the best advice about how to apply.


Where do I find a good agent?
There are a number of national agent associations worldwide, which provide and monitor standards to ensure the good working practice of their members.

The Federation of Education and Language Consultants Associations (Felca) is an association of language and education travel associations from all over the world. Its members include the national associations of most of the major student providing countries in the world and more information, including addresses and web links to agent associations in your country, can be found at www.felca.org.

If you don’t have an agent association in your country, ask other students if they can recommend an agent that they have already used. Your school or university might also be able to give you information and advice about local agents.

Public Education in the United States II

	Public Education in the United States Education and Equality

Despite the fact that American education has provided unprecedented educational opportunities, some groups of Americans have benefited from the system more than others. Especially since the 1950s, public policy toward education has sought to provide greater equity—that is, equality of educational opportunity for all Americans. Policymakers have attempted to eliminate various forms of discrimination in schools even more than they have addressed issues of educational quality or standards. Most federal intervention into the educational practices of local school relates to issues of equal educational opportunity.

A

Racial Equality

During the 1950s segregation by race in public and private schools was still common in the United States. In the American South separate schools for African Americans and whites were sanctioned by state laws that had been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). In the North no such laws existed, but racial segregation was common in schools located in segregated neighborhoods and in school districts where school boards deliberately drew boundaries to ensure racial separation. Segregation usually resulted in inferior education for blacks, whether in the North or the South. Average public expenditures for white schools routinely exceeded expenditures for black schools. Teachers in white schools generally received higher pay than did teachers in black schools, and facilities in most white schools were far superior to facilities in most black schools.

In 1954 the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, thus reversing the position it had held since 1896. Despite vigorous resistance for many years by many southern states, by 1980 the federal courts had largely succeeded in eliminating the system of legalized segregation in southern schools.

Most black Americans, however, lived in northern cities. In cities where intentional segregation was proven to exist, such as Boston, the federal courts ordered redrawing of neighborhood school district lines. The courts sometimes also ordered busing of students from one neighborhood to another to achieve racial balance in each school. In higher education, federal law mandated affirmative action programs to ensure that colleges admit more racial minority students and hire more faculty members.

Continue reading article

Despite the use of judicial power to achieve desegregation and the presumed equality of educational opportunity it promised, many schools in the United States remained highly divided along racial lines. Many whites and middle class blacks had moved out of central cities by the 1970s, leaving poor blacks and rising populations of Hispanic Americans to attend urban schools. The courts generally refused to sanction metropolitan busing plans—those that require busing across district lines between city and suburb—as a tool to achieve racial integration. Nor did the courts mandate that affirmative action produce the same level of results that had been achieved through the introduction of racial quotas for institutions of higher education.

Most federally mandated desegregation efforts have been aimed at increasing educational achievement among African American students. However, many educators cite continued inequality in educational opportunities for Hispanic American students. Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group in American schools, increasing from 10 percent of the enrollment in public schools in 1986 to 16 percent in 1999. In 1996 a report issued by the Presidential Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans indicated that a disproportionate number of Hispanic American students attend predominantly non-white schools and schools that lack adequate educational resources. Educational achievement is also lower for Hispanic students than for white students. In the 1999-2000 academic year the dropout rate among Hispanic students was 7.4 percent, while for white students it was 4.1 percent. Income gaps and language barriers between many Hispanics and non-Hispanics further complicate efforts to achieve educational equality for Hispanic students.

B

Gender Equality

Discrimination against women and girls has been as pervasive in American schools as discrimination based on race. Laws in the 19th century required states to provide equal educational opportunity for both boys and girls. Most public schools were coeducational, yet many teachers subtly but firmly suggested to girls that a woman’s place was mainly in the home rather than in secondary schools, colleges, or professions—unless the intended career was schoolteaching. Educators first encouraged broader views of women’s life possibilities in all-girls schools and, especially, women’s colleges. During the mid-19th century female education reformers, including Catharine Esther Beecher, Emma Willard, and Mary Lyon, established women’s academies that provided female students with secondary and sometimes college-level instruction and offered subjects that educators previously considered unnecessary for women, such as mathematics, science, and history. The first coeducational college was Oberlin College (founded in 1833), the first enduring all-women’s college was Vassar College (1861), and the first graduate school for women was at Bryn Mawr College (1880).

With the expansion of the American school system in the early 20th century, a huge demand for elementary and secondary schoolteachers encouraged large numbers of women to participate in higher education to gain teaching credentials. Even then, social expectations for women to remain in domestic roles, as well as male discrimination against women, often closed career doors to well-educated women. These barriers only began to lower when the women’s rights movement gained power during the 1960s. Title IX of the 1972 federal Education Amendments prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in educational institutions that received federal aid. This legislation began to remove perhaps the most visible symbol of discrimination against women in schools and colleges—the scarcity of athletic opportunities for women compared with those available to men.

C

Special Programs

Many educators and some political leaders have increasingly viewed mere access to a school and its offerings as an inadequate solution to the problem of educational inequality. Especially since the 1960s, education reformers have argued that special programs and resources were essential to guarantee genuine equality of education to disadvantaged youth. Title I (later called Chapter I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 provided federal funds for supplementary education programs targeted toward poor and black children. Most of these funds were spent on young children, according to a prevailing theory that educational disadvantages could best be eliminated at an early age, before their effects had become more difficult to reverse. The federal Head Start program, established in 1965, created special education programs for preschoolers and remains one of the most admired achievements of the War on Poverty programs of the 1960s.

The federal government has also provided financial assistance for educational programs for other disadvantaged groups. The Bilingual Education Act, part of the 1967 amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, authorized federal funds for school districts having substantial numbers of students with limited mastery of English. Estimates of the number of students in the United States with limited mastery of English range from 2.5 to 4.6 million, or from 7 to 10 percent of the U.S. student population (see Bilingual Education).

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 mandated individualized instructional programs for students with disabilities. It also called for placing such students, whenever possible, in regular classrooms rather than separating them from mainstream students. In 1994 the U.S. Department of Education reported that 6.6 percent of all Americans below age 21 received special education services (see Special Education).

	Contemporary Issues

Today, formal education serves a greater percentage of the U.S. population than at any time in history. It has also assumed many of the responsibilities formerly reserved for family, religion, and social organizations. Most Americans expect schools to provide children with skills, values, and behaviors that will help them become responsible citizens, contribute to social stability in the country, and increase American economic productivity. The federal government also requires schools to correct social inequality among students of different racial, ethnic, social, or economic backgrounds.

Although the objectives assumed by formal education increased dramatically during the 20th century, the format and techniques of American schooling have remained, for the most part, quite stable and resistant to change. Despite occasional experiments—such as the introduction of movable rather than fixed desks, team teaching, and ungraded courses—the practice of teaching and the process of learning in 1900 closely resembled that of today. Students took courses; classes consisted of groups of 20 to 30 students with a teacher at the front of the room; instruction proceeded by lecture, demonstration, discussion, or silent work at a desk; and teachers often assigned homework for the students to complete after class.

However, some aspects of teaching have changed. The influence of modern psychology and of education reformers such as John Dewey caused schools to become less formal, more relaxed, and somewhat more centered on the individual child rather than on the institution or the society. School facilities improved for most students, except perhaps in the inner cities. More money was spent on education, resulting in both a general upgrading of teacher salaries and improvements in programs that focus on specific kinds of students, such as special education. Spending on students in public elementary and secondary schools increased from $2,101 per pupil in the 1959-1960 academic year (in constant 1998-1999 dollars) to $7,013 per pupil in the 1998-1999 academic year.

A

Educational Technology

Many technological innovations of the 20th century have promised breakthroughs in the methods and effectiveness of teaching. Some of the most promising innovations included filmstrips and motion pictures, teaching machines (mechanical devices that present systematic instruction to students), and programmed instruction (instruction delivered in a graded sequence of steps, usually by means of a computer or other device). But the promise generated by much of this new technology proved illusory, and most changes in teaching methods became nothing more than short-lived fads.

Two very different technologies, however, may have far greater effects on educational practice than their predecessors. The revolution in computer and communications technology holds out hope that all students will connect with more information and more people than ever before, and that learning might become more individualized. The other promising technological advance is in biochemistry and genetic engineering. Innovations in these fields suggest that certain barriers to learning, such as short attention spans or faulty memories, might one day be reduced by means other than the traditional reliance on sheer effort alone. For example, medical researchers conduct studies on the brain and central nervous system in hopes of discovering ways to enhance memory and intelligence.

B

Extended Schooling

Educational institutions in the United States are increasingly offering schooling opportunities to people both much younger and much older than the traditional school-age population. For example, the percentage of 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds enrolled in preschools increased from 21 percent in 1971 to 40 percent in 1993. This rise of early schooling parallels the increase in single-parent households and households in which both parents have careers.

Enrollment has similarly increased in adult education programs, which are usually defined as part-time study not directed toward a degree. Adult education programs vary substantially. Millions of adults enroll in such programs for job-related reasons, often because companies provide incentives for employees to upgrade skills through training. Many adults also attend school to pursue personal interests and hobbies. A growing number of older and relatively affluent people has created a new market for travel, reading, and other kinds of self development. Many institutions of higher education have developed part-time, evening, and summer programs to tap the nontraditional adult market more aggressively.

C

Education Outside of Schools

Education occurs not only in schools and colleges but in many other settings, directly and indirectly, intentionally and unintentionally. Since the 1980s, education policymakers and reformers have given greater attention and funding to improve the quality of education in nonschool settings. For example, educators view the family as perhaps the most powerful educational force, and schools have increased education programs designed specifically for parents. Museums have also given greater attention to their instructional role, and many museums with an educational purpose have been created specifically for children. During the 1960s the pioneering work of the Children’s Television Workshop, which created “Sesame Street” (1969- ), was an early demonstration of how television could advance rather than retard educational values. The proportion of government funds spent on education in nonschool settings is likely to continue to increase.

D

The School Reform Movement

Recent efforts to reform public education in the United States have been characterized by an unprecedented effort to improve academic standards, school accountability, and equality of opportunity in public schools. Testing and curriculum programs are often mandated whether local districts want them or not. For example, the No Child Left Behind Act (described in the Tension Between Localism and Centralization section of this article) requires states to use annual student tests to identify poorly performing schools and to take corrective action if these schools do not improve.

Some members of the school reform movement believe that too little power exists at the local level. They claim that teachers and schools can increase their effectiveness only by having greater authority over such fundamental matters as curriculum content, teaching methods, and hiring of staff. Supporters of local control over education often support the creation of charter schools, which receive public funds but are free from most restrictions on curriculum, teaching methods, and staff. Other reformers contend that not all local communities have the resources to provide quality education. They argue that to meet goals of equity and excellence, all local districts should meet high educational standards and provide ample school budgets.