Education was haphazard; many children were excluded due to income, race, gender or location.
Children received schooling through church-supported, local, tuition, charity, boarding, dame schools, tutoring and apprenticeships.
Early schools lacked formal funding; financed by tuition, charity, property taxes; teachers were underpaid and underprepared.
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Democracy and Origins of Public Schools
Public schools were created to prepare citizens for democracy: understand issues, vote wisely and resist tyranny.
Early leaders believed education built character and virtue; girls were educated to educate their children.
Leaders like Jefferson and Adams proposed publicly funded schools; Land Ordinances (1785, 1787) provided lands for education.
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The Common School Movement
In the 1830s, Horace Mann advocated universally available, state-funded public schools.
Common schools emphasized knowledge, civic duty, economic benefits and moral instruction; curricula included the "three Rs" and history, geography, grammar, rhetoric.
Common schools sought to unify social classes but universal did not always include all races.
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Universal Education & Inequality
Advocates saw education as a means to eliminate poverty and crime; educating children costs less than dealing with social problems.
Public education spread slowly: enrollment rose from 55% in 1830 to 78% in 1870; high school completion grew from 14% in 1910 to 90% in 2017.
Universal schooling ideals were compromised by segregation and discrimination against children of color, immigrants, and girls.
