Education Reforms in Early 19th Century American History
By the mid-1830s, American education underwent a significant transformation that resulted in free public education for all of the nation’s children. These changes are linked to the period of Jacksonian democracy as well as the spirit of reform that affected society in general. Education helped to democratize and standardize a system that sought to promote good morals as well as Protestant virtues. At the same time, however, such goals alienated the growing number of Catholic immigrants who saw the Protestant religious influence in the public schools as a threat to their belief systems and faith tradition.
Early Educational Reform in the United States
Prior to the efforts of Horace Mann in Massachusetts, education of youth had been haphazard. Apprenticeships represented educational efforts in earlier decades. Poor children were instructed in “pauper” schools. By the early 19th century, however, the nation’s population was growing, large numbers of immigrants were fleeing conditions in Europe, and industrialization was employing ever greater numbers of laborers.
Horace Mann successfully pushed for free public schools for all children in Massachusetts, a policy adopted by other states such as New York, and carried to Congress in an effort at universalizing free formative education by Mann when he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1848. According to historian Page Smith, by 1850 there were 80, 985 public schools in the nation, 91, 966 teachers, and 119 colleges.
Mann also improved teacher training in an effort to standardize what was being taught. This included a living wage as well as the professionalization of teaching as a career. Students were taught the proverbial “three R’s,” reading, writing, and arithmetic. They were also required to master history, grammar, and geography. An important goal was to pair rote learning with Protestant ideology, including the notion that Americans were God’s chosen people.
Democratizing Education in Early American History
Mann stated that, “Education…is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.” According to Mann, “Education is our only political safety.” In the free public classrooms, children from a variety of backgrounds sat side-by-side learning the same things. Education afforded equal opportunities to every child. It should be noted, however, that the wealthy class continued to send their sons to elite private schools or venerable old public schools like Boston Latin, the oldest such school, founded in 1635. In addition, the nation experienced an expansion of vocational schools.
European Immigrants and Parochial Schools
Irish and German immigrants entered the United States through Boston and New York. In many cases, Irish immigrants traveled first to Canada and then made their way to Boston. Most of these immigrants were Roman Catholic. In New England, anti-Catholic bias began with the first settlements of the Calvinist-minded English – Puritans and separatists, who despised Catholicism. These biases were still evident in the early 19th century.
Because a Protestant-dominated education system promoted Protestant beliefs in the public schools, Catholic students were subjected to a curriculum that disparaged Catholicism. According the Page Smith, “McGuffey Readers were a remarkable amalgam of pious essays and literary pieces…heavily interspersed with scriptural texts.” These texts came from the King James Version of the Bible.
Catholics felt the need to establish their own schools, not only to counter the anti-Catholic bias in public schools, but to educate their children in the fundamentals of their own faith tradition. Pope Pius IX, in the 1864 Syllabus of Errors, stated that, “Catholics cannot approve a system of education for youth apart from the Catholic faith, and disjointed from the authority of the church.” In 1853, the First Plenary Council in Baltimore dictated that all bishops establish parish schools. This action was taken during the height of Nativist attitudes and the popularity of the Know-Nothing Party.
Goals and Outcomes of American Education in the 19th Century
Educational goals tend to change as social and economic conditions change. In the 19th Century, a common educational goal was to produce intelligent citizens able to function in a democratic society. Throughout the century, the expansion of immigration demonstrated the need to educate children that would be functional in English, understand and participate in the democratic process, and develop a morality consistent with virtuous behavior.
References:
- Jonathan Messerli, Horace Mann: a Biography (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1972)
- Page Smith, The Nation Comes of Age: A People’s History of the Ante-Bellum Years, Volume 4 (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1981)
- Timothy Walch, Parish School: A History of American Parochial Education from Colonial Times to the Present (New York: Herder and Herder, 1996)
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