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.

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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.