Kaestle's Pillars of the Republic

Pillars of the Republic

Common Schools and American Society
1780-1860

by

Carl F Kaestle

Great Resource

Preface

During the three decades prior to Civil War, the North created common school systems. Their goal was an improved and unified school system. Included in this mix are: rural district schools, urban charity schools, battles waged by reformers, teacher's institutes and graded schools. There wasn't opposition to schooling, just how it would be achieved. It was a republican govt, of Protestant culture, with the development of capitalism. These ideologies rankled the non-North, non- Protestant, non-capitalist communities. MULTI-CULTURALISM OF TODAY!! However, these opposing ideas helped form the shape and content of American common schooling by 1860. Schools were the principal agent providing the cognitive and moral teaching in America. Society educates in many ways: family, church, community; but the state educates through the school.
"Common School" means elementary school intended to serve all the children. It was not "free school." Parents were often required to pay part of the cost for common school. The history of common school is complicated by local variation.
Great quote: "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some to be chewed and digested."

1 Prologue: The Founding Fathers and Education

Begins the discussion about education in America. Rudimentary learning was widespread in revolutionary America, the British fostered education. Early education saw the Bible as an early book for salvation. They valued education accomplished through parental initiative and informal, local control of institutions. Attendance was voluntary and funded locally. Much education came through family, church and the workplace. Education did not come from above. The Founding fathers (FF) worried about the republic falling into anarchy. They pinned their hopes on the creation of a republic. Education could be important in reconciling freedom and order. Education was important to prepare men to vote and women to train their sons. Moral training produced virtuous citizens. More than the 3R's: ethics, principles of law, commerce, money, and govt were necessary. The natural virtue could not be assumed. America looked to schools to do this.
Education was crucial in departing from corrupt Europe. Jefferson tried to establish a step system in VA. Rush in PA. Webster was concerned with a common language and culture. Samuel Harrison Smith, a Washington editor, wrote: Writers like Smith stressed liberty and unfettered intelligence. Others stressed moral training for the survival of republican institutions. They reconciled freedom and order in different ways. Gov Clinton of NY warned that the war had created a "chasm in education" in 1782 and urged schooling for its citizens. Robt Coram of Del thought schools outside large towns were despicable and that teachers were shamefully deficient. These opinions prompted prominent men to push for state laws requiring free local schools. Jefferson pushed the three-tiered system. Rush in PA too. Reason for failure in both VA and PA was because of "ignorance, malice, egoism, fanaticism, religious, political, and local perversities." Also a resistance to new taxes and control outside local community: the very tenets of the war.
By 1795, three North states had three distinct approaches. In 1789 Mass required towns of 50+ to provide school for 6 months. 200+ had to add classical languages. Since 1784, NY had a Regents and money did reach the local level. 37% of all children reported receiving funds. The most impressive was in CT of 1795. CT sold its western land for $1.2 million which created a school fund. They collected $2 per $1000 assessed value. This interest paid for teachers. this led to using local taxes for common schools. rather than consider top down we should 1)ask what kind of schooling did ordinary people want and 2)what were the results of the institution? What did they want and what did they get?
The gulf of two extremes: need for order yet avoiding anarchy (chaos) were the concerns of the Founding Fathers.

2 Rural Schools in the Early Republic

Were the rule. Most Americans lived in small rural towns. 95% of pop in 1790 lived in communities of 2500 or fewer. 91% in 1830. Schools were controlled by a small locality and financed by property taxes, fuel contributions, tuition payments, and state aid.
Schools were not "little red schoolhouses." They were unpainted log or clapboard buildings on non-idyllic locations. The only requisite was to have in the center most location. 60-70 scholars in room for 30. School was a day care center with kids under 2 attending. Young kids went to get out from under foot. They were called "abecedarians" who did the alphabet twice a day for 5 minutes each session. Study was memorizing the alphabet then one syllable words and vowel exercises. They started writing on slates and then with quills in copy books. Texts came from home and were John Dilworth's, an Englishman, until Noah Webster developed his Blue Back Speller. The Bible was the reading book. Foreign languages were often taught. Religious exercise was reflective of the locality.
Urban schools used older students, "monitors," to assist in educating the younger scholars. This was not done in rural schools. On corporal punishment: Some teachers were simply compassionate, gentle people; some may use some corporal punishment; some felt discipline was crucial. THINK HOLOFERNES IN LLL. Idea was Govern from a sense of right and justice when you can, from a feeling of fear when you must For early 19th Cent teachers did not stay at it long, wages were low, and the short sessions required teachers to get a second job. Teacher certification began to be considered at this time. Parents had considerable power in the early days because the teachers stayed in the houses of the scholars unless the teacher's parent lived in the town. This was good for two reasons: parents could influence the teacher to their ways and see the character of the teacher and the teacher could get to know the parents.
Girl's education was added because they were capable of education like the boys, but more importantly as mothers they had to educate their kids, esp sons, at home. Girls education was segregated. District schools were tightly tied to communities by being inexpensive and under tight local control.

3 Urban Education and the Expansion of Charity Schooling

Changes in the organization and funding were the key developments in urban schools. Rural schools were funded by local govt and parents. Under represented group were day-laborers. Wealthy found tutors or boarding schools. Another form of common pay schools were "dame" schools operated by women in their homes. Education also came from apprenticeship or church charity schools. Rural Americans ignored republican theorists to advocated a school system to save the nation who saw problems from resourceless and aliens. In 1791 a NY newspaper wrote about schooling for the poor: "exposing them to innumerable temptations to become not only useless, but hurtful members of the community who seldom keep any govt in their families so their children contract bad habits of idleness and mischief and wickedness." Thus began the indictment of the urban poor. Thomas eddy of NY said: "the great preventative of offenses is doubtless an early attention to moral and religious instruction." Although many looked to England for moral change, they did not have the same passion in educating the poor. How could reformers look to England when it chose to improve American education? Heck we just separated from them and they maintained status levels of people, a hierarchy and they believed education would cause disorder. To the Americans "Prevention was better than punishment and cheaper." Charity schools provided a moral education, which many believe crucial in a republic. Americans believed in education for social stability, they feared ignorance. Mass education was not opposed in America because we did not have a formal nobility and no powerful church hierarchy. America did not fear a literate public. Charity schools laid the basis for a free school system. Quakers were a leading religious group in education esp with free Blacks. A problem was the educated Black had no future after a good education. Reformers wanted to save the children from their parents which made all parents seem bad. Where is the balance? Thus the NY Free School Society was born in 1805.
Joseph Lancaster introduced a plan which found older scholars drilling younger scholars. This "monoitorial" system emphasized recitation. This monitorial system had all students in an active learning mode. AN EARLY FORM OF CONSTRUCTIVISM This became very popular and became known as the Lancasterian system. A large number of scholars could be schooled by a few or with little effort. It seemed a panacea which provided cheap, efficient, elementary education. It allowed pupils to advance according to industry and application to their studies and were not held back by the duller scholars.
Sunday schools and infant schools also thrived. Sunday schools were not religious, they just met on Sunday a day kids were not in school. It was trying to use al possible time to educate. In trying to save the kids from their parents, infant schools emerged. Kids @ 2 were admitted and cared for. It also got the kids from underfoot. Young children needed kindness more than discipline; curiosity more than authority, and real words more than words. CONSTRUCTIVISTS The early part of the 19th Century was a time of outreach for the poor and everyone pitched in.
Private and public did no mean in 1830 what they mean today in education. Eventually educational leaders consolidated various charity schools under one organization. In NYC they created The NY Free School society in 1805. Using the Lancasterian system and other things the Society became the largest school org in NYC in 1835. This consolidation occurred in many big cities as well as in smaller cities.

4 Social Change and Education in the American Northeast, 1830- 1860

Schools began because of local custom not state initiative or policy. Thus schools sessions were brief, facilities were crude, and teachers were one step ahead of the kids. Uniformity was only in the strong Protestant religion, by popularity of certain texts, and informal traditions. America did not have a school system. Many believed in having one: Jefferson in VA, Rush in PA, Gideon Hawley of NY, and James Carter in MA. New reformers appeared after 1830 as did cotton, which changed everything. Technological change came to the countryside, capitalism boomed, new non-English immigrants came in. Pop increased by 35% from 1840 - 1850. Everything became unequal, inequitable and classes formed. Capitalism was associated with increasing literacy and learning. Publishing became important and newspapers increased from 138 - 387 from 1840 - 1860. The role of the schoolmaster was changing also. Less corporal punishment. Moral persuasion was encouraged and stressed.
There were four significant developments in moral discipline:
Prevention became big as did capitalism. Promptness and industry were crucial capitalistic mores instilled in education. Work discipline would lead to self-help as well as stability. SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS Also discipline was needed for the order in schools and parents wanted their children to behave and be obedient. Capitalism, which fostered commerce, geography, and communications, schooling created literate students in math and other intellectual skills. SCHOOL TO WORK, TECH PREP, VE Americans were worried about disorder and looked to schools to provide common language, common social mores, equality, and popular economic conditions. Urban schools began to adopt graded schools with standardized curricula and supervisory personnel. Cultural uniformity and educational uniformity went hand in hand. Noah Webster was important in this. Immigrant groups split on issues of assimilation and cultural pride. Public schools responded as the public looked to public education to resolve cultural conflict. Thus assimilation became the central preoccupation of educators.
Another bone was teacher education. Prussia had a model the Americans liked. The Prussians trained and certified their teachers.

5 The Idealogy of Antebellum Common-School Reform

With a quickly changing society, educators advocated moral education and good citizenship. All were confident that improved public education could alleviate a host of problems.
Ideology is used in this book to mean a set of apparently compatible propositions about human nature and society that help an individual to interpret complex human problems and take action that the individual believes is in his or her best interest and the best interests of the society as a whole. Ideology is the aspect of culture that attempts to justify and defend a set of social relations and institutions of the dominant social group. The author introduced a variant of the ideology: cosmopolitan which advocates govt action to improve economy, shape the morals, and unify the culture. From protestantism, republicanism, and capitalism; cosmopolitanism justified the govt interventions. This thrust needed to be more aggressive as more people entered America. America was growing more complex and the need for "cosmopolitan" methods were necessary. But still there was opposition to centralization and state regulation from "localists." The sacredness of the Republic required local control and participation in institutions. The survival of the republic depended upon the morality of the people. This was seen in Benjamin Rush's "republican machine": the citizen. However, growing fear came from: manufacturing, immigration, the decline of landholding, fragmenting of Protestant religion, and growth of cities. With a growing democracy and a growing diversity self-sacrifice and sub-ordination seemed more relevant. In schoolbooks and popular essays the image of the republican citizen is of a man who is constructive, on occasion critical, but always cautious and respectful. They taught liberty but ... Horace Mann suggested schools should not allow controversial issues to be taught.
Schooling should stress unity, obedience, restraint, self- sacrifice, and the careful exercise of intelligence. The parts made up the whole: the citizens created society, therefore the individuals education was crucial. The general thought was this: "the child uneducated in knowledge and virtue is educated in the school of depravity. And what is true of the individual is true of communities." All needed moral education.
Alongside the related virtues of self-control, self-sacrifice, and restraint stood industry. Hard work is very important. With industry also came the indolent and their children had to be rescued. Jacob Abbott created a character named Rollo who was a symbol for industry. Women were expected to cater to their husband in the form of domestic tranquillity, a good husband, and care of children. Women had 3 roles: as wife create a sanctuary at home from work, as homemaker manage a frugal and healthy home, as mother nurture and instruct children. This created a liberating and constraining effect: if mother was to teach she would have to learn, and if she were to maintain the home she needed to be taught. Many school texts were geared in this education of the women. Angell's Select reader discussed this. Washington Irving's "The Wife" provided guidance. However Catharine Beecher's Treatise on Domestic Economy was the most important source and this and others tried to promote dignity, complexity, and importance to housework. The education of children fell to mothers. Too much intellectual training for girls was frowned on. They required more home economics instruction. Between 1750 and 1850 children were viewed as innocent and vulnerable and the role of mother was very important. However, if you were born to a thief, then cultivation could help but the character never removed. You could cultivate a potato but you can't turn a potato into an apple. This was an argument in keeping Blacks from schools. Human potential was still fettered in racial and national stereotypes. "Soft pedagogy" wants children to internalize discipline rather than having authority imposed, to have teachers rule by "moral suasion" rather than by coercion.
Owning property was an important element of stability and virtue. Property and education were powerful tools in America. Equality of opportunity was associated with property.
These opportunities are open to white native males, not women, blacks, or immigrants. It was expected that the children would follow in their families steps. They stayed in the same station of life.
The superiority of Protestantism and the special destiny of America blinded them to many forms of equality and justice. They saw republicanism associated with Christianity. They were fanatic zealots. God justified much of their behavior.
There was widespread consensus for common schooling. Schools should instill a "humanizing culture." Reformers asked for authority mixed with affection, discipline more internal than imposed, morality by example than precept, and lessons emphasizing understanding more than rote memorization. To make GOOD CITIZENS not precocious scholars. Jews acquiesced, but Catholics did not. The Prot-Cath rift was not good. The increase of immigrants demonstrated that Americans did not share a common culture and that it was up to schools to deal with the problem. Noah Webster attempted consolidation of language in his texts. "When foreigners are in the habit of congregating together, they retain their national customs.
Intellectual education did not receive as high a priority as moral education in discussion. However a great deal of intellectual work was done.
Here then are the native protestant tenets:
It called for govt to provide schooling that would be common, more equal, more dedicated to public policy and centering on Protestantism, republicanism, and capitalism.

6 The Common-School Reform Program

In Gettysburg in 1826 Thaddeus Stevens said: "Education. May the film be removed from the eyes of PA and she learn to dread ignorance more than taxation. European examples spurred PA to develop state-sponsored schools. Still many opposed taxation for education. calvin Stowe of Ohio: "The whole world seems to be awake and combining in one simultaneous effort for the spread of education, and sad indeed will be the condition of that community which lags behind in the universal march." In 1840, Gov Wm Seward of NY: "a reform of the educational system has been too long 'postponed, omitted, and forgotten.' He introduced legislation to establish a state superintendent of instruction, county superintendents, state-aided libraries, and improved education for blacks." free school advocates aimed for more schooling for each child, more state involvement, more uniformity, and more pervasive public purpose for schooling. They called their work a "crusade" and communicated often with each other, imitated each other's innovative ideas, and devised ways to disseminate and publicize their methods. Although new england was the core of the reform, elsewhere in America reformers looked to Europe. CONSIDER VE!! The common school phenomenon was all the rage.
Reformers used the reports of schools to push their reforms: short terms, irregular attendance, bad facilities, shortsighted and penurious district control, poor teachers, insufficient supervision, lack of uniformity, indifferent parental support. The many studies of the time show children between 5-15 were the core of kids to attend school. Attendance was a crucial element in the reform movement and focused on slums and tenements. In factory towns children followed their parents to the factory. The Peltz Committee in 1837, reported on children in Phil PA's cotton mills. 11-14 hrs of work, 1/5 employees under 12, no education, 1/3 under 18 could read. A shorter work day would harm business. the committee argued in a republic education of the citizens is more important. CERTAINLY WE SEE THAT NOW: DETROIT ETC. These investigations led to child labor laws which meant employees did not hire children or ignored the laws. Families needed the additional income. However it wasn't the working wafe which bothered the reformers as much as it was the street-wandering youth. They also discouraged kids under 4 to attend.
Enrollment says nothing to the quality or quantity of education received. Irregular attendance was more harmful than lack of uniformed texts. By lengthening the school year, officials expected to make it a habit and to make teaching a profession. The quality was also in question. Local control misused expenditures, teacher training, and organization of schools. The move from district control looked like a better move. the effort was to centralize: consolidating districts into town systems, develop mechanisms for state supervision and regulation, and encouraging the transition from private to public control. Consolidation would both raise and equalize school expenditures; it would make for better teacher hiring practices, too. Small districts were the paradise of ignorant teachers. "Union schools brought kids together from many districts. this was not a problem for urban schools so consolidation was a rural issue. Reformers established the office of superintendent to oversee the schools and to control state funds. Although Horace Mann was successful in MASS his success was not transferable as seen in NC. Reform depended on social structure, politics, demography, and resources. The office of superintendents were to persuade and not coerce. They were to promote educational concepts in essays, mollify parents, involve parents, unify texts used and generally bring uniformity and quality to state education initiatives.
A third reform was against private schooling. Private schools drew off the most intelligent men, complained Horace Mann, this is not republican. Private schools also soaked up resources. There was a trend which saw public schools push private schools out. Not until after the Civil War would public schools see competition, but from Catholic schools. Although a group of wealthy folks continued to support private schools, public schools improved. However, private schools provided transition to college and to the education of leaders, thus high schools needed to evolve. And this depended on the support of the poor and middle class. They were established in NYC in 1849 and were called the "splendid crown of our Common School system." High schools were an urban thing. 1821 saw Eng HS in Boston as the 1st hs. It was more symbolic since attendance was real low. These high schools fostered intergenerational change from manual to non-manual occupations.
This reform movement put considerable financial strain on local school districts. Per pupil costs became a benchmark. Female teachers were preferred because they were cheaper and because of their natural superiority as instructors of young children. The system saw male "principal teachers" with 6-8 female assistants. It worked because in the newly highly organized school, reformers wished to bridge the gap between family culture and school culture with females. Hiring females made sense. In 1800 most teachers were male, in 1900 most were female. This improved the quality of life for most women. Emma Willard was an early advocate.
Reformers pushed for longer terms for year-round employment, better wages, improved teacher training, more communications through professional journals, and improved hiring practices. There was a move to make teaching a more honorable profession. Journals proliferated either as independent or as superintendent generated. Though subscription rates were low, shared copies probably reached many more teachers than was suspected. These journals were important nonetheless. Another way to disseminate educational reform ideas was via the teacher's institute. Prussian schools were a model for teacher training. Teacher training was accomplished in four ways: 1)through the example of the instructor; 2) through his incidental remarks about teaching methods during regular lessons; 3)through his weekly lectures on the art of teaching; and 4)through practice teaching in a model school. Grading students became another of the reformers concepts. This created levels of achievement and competition. This grading began to organize kids by age. Educators lauded this idea of grading, but also warned not to make it personal. Grading spurred industry, thus it was morally sound. The merit system evolved from this.
Reformers were not for lock-step, they were for innovation, change, and the adaptation to local circumstances. Uniformity of texts was still a difficult matter thereby undermining efficiency and professional expertise. Much was accomplished and established in education by these reformers from 1820 to 1860.

7 Ins and Outs: Acquiescence, Ambivalence, and Resistance to Common-School Reform

Common-school reform was not easy. It as a battle with many skirmishes on separate issues. Opponents to reform were not: political madmen, ignorant demagogues, hack politicians, penny- pinching bumpkins, unassimilated foreigners, and undemocratic elitists. Did middle-class imposed education on working class to maintain control. Workingmen's associations supported tax- supported common schools from 1825-35. They wanted better than charity schools, demanding a fair shake. They knew a separation in education would separate the classes and we would be like the Europe we just left. Workingmen were hard workers, frugal, moral, and enterprising. They were the stuff of Horatio Alger stories. Knowledge is power. Opponents spoke of self-help, self-educated successes from the past and present. Self-made men were admirable: Ben Franklin? Supporting a more egalitarian public school system, workingmen groups which formed unions became more concerned with their own working conditions and their influence became less, but their legacy of less privileged education lived on. Everyone shared the view of morality, respectability, and self-improvement.
Robert Owen was a critic of the capitalistic element in education. he had definite socialistic educational views, which he published, about education. Following the Pestalozzian philosophy, Maclure added his own brand to Owen's New Harmony. Traditional schools killed time and imprisoned children for 4-5 hours only to release them for 8 hours of retaliation and havoc. In his schools, children would constantly be occupied in useful things, they would get a practical education, converting life itself into a play. SEE MANN. New Harmony failed!! One reason may be that it attacked or threatened Protestantism or Christianity in general because of its atheistic ways.
Issues of control, centralization, and bureaucratization became an issue when Beverley, MA which was still in the district mode chose to close its high school. An ensuing battle waged. Eventually the school was reinstated, but this showed the weakness of the centralized system because those in power were insiders and the dissenters were outsiders. Opposition to consolidation and increased cost of education was based on tradition, parent's prerogatives, minority rights, religious freedom, and theories of limited govt. Taxation was a great issue. There was much resistance to the paternal arm of the state in educating the willing and the unwilling and using tax money to do it. HENCE VOUCHERS ARE EQUITABLE. Centralized control, avidly pursued by professional educators and spokesmen for 'progress' was the most controversial of antebellum reforms. Opponents emphasized it removed educational control "one step farther from the people." Politics hampered effective BOE's as did religious beliefs. Reformers saw the struggle as one of enlightenment over ignorance. They failed to see there were principles on the other side. Essentially to professionalize, homogenize, and organize schooling threatened local control. Local control left much to parents. parents would decide when and for how long, and they paid. parents had much control over the selection of the teacher. There was and is much animosity between teacher and parent. In general, parents wanted schools to train their children in basic skills and attitudes. They lost authority and control over their children's education. this was the trade-off. The resistance came from whites. The immigrants accepted this as a way to learn English, math, and American society seemed a benefit not to be missed. The school was considered the filter to the immigrant waves. catholics in particular became the rogues and Catholic schools popped up. What was happening was that parents were being seen by their children as bad and this angered the non-Protestant groups. Public schools taught children to feel ashamed of the creed of their forefathers." Non-English Protestants were assailed as were non- English speaking immigrants. Reformers worked on the premise that the dominant culture ruled and all others should assimilate.
The question of blacks in education is pervaded by conflict and disappointment. Blacks couldn't vote, opportunities for higher ed and jobs was denied them. Education did not help blacks in the job market. African schools cropped up and were segregated. Blacks accepted this so they could get an education. When some black leaders began to press for truly common schools they met resistance from: white segregationists and from black separatists. Without equality of opportunity there will be class oppression and class war. MASS instituted integration in 1855. NYC and PA responded by making segregation okay.
American Indians faced a policy of extinction and removal, not assimilation. Hispanics not considered. Women the largest out group crossed racial, religious, ethnic, and class lines. Catholics forced some concessions. Manual laborers were not served well. However, state school systems prevailed, professional training started, there was a shift from private to public admin, and a shift from district control to centralization. Reforms prevailed gradually and imperfectly because they served the dominant group and their ideology: republicanism, Protestantism, and capitalism.

8 Regional Differences in Common-School Development

The Midwest followed those of the Northeast pretty much. Schools in the South did not copy the Northeast. Public purse provided elementary ed for poor white only. All others fended for themselves. The missionary effort failed in the South. Slavery, sparse pop, periodic economic crisis, and aristocratic attitudes foiled New England reformers. Midwest profited by large Northeast migration. Why did reform succeed in the North and fail in the South? The Midwest followed the laws of the Northwest Ordinances of 1785-87. It provided for common schooling. Education did not prosper in the new lands because the settlers had more immediate concerns, like shelter, clearing lands, growing food, etc. Schooling was local, voluntary, and entrepreneurial. The NE public-school model was a myth, the ordinances of 1785-87 were ineffective, and use of state taxes for ed were in the future. The real models were early local controlled NE models. Schoolhouses built became a center of activity in day and night. In sum the story of the Midwest is much like the East.
In the South there was much less enthusiasm for local common schools and more successful resistance to state systems. Academies were most dominant. Religious groups also prospered in the South. "Old-field" schools, so-called, because they occupied old log cabins in fields left to fallow were started by small communities and taught elementary education or subjects as needed. Some benevolent societies created charity schools but not as in the Northern cities. The Lancasterian system was used in some areas, but it was not widespread. No slaves were educated except those on plantations used for tutoring. Quakers were a major educational force of slaves in the South. Slaveholders saw a correlation between education and freedom. A very republican concept, so they discouraged educating slaves. Southern states created laws designed to prohibit teaching slaves to read. Some slaveholders believed the best slave was one who could read the Bible. It seems ironic that VA, home of Jefferson, should be considered "the banner state of ignorance." The Southern states established a Literary fund which needed to be applied for to get funds to support a local school. Few communities did so. Education was essentially for the poor and the rich. The middle class had to fend for themselves. Southerners displayed more reluctance than northerners to tax property for school costs. Slaves were property. Sparseness was one reason for poor educational initiatives, but so too was the point that the South was a one crop region: cotton. When it was good great, when not, then life was horrible. Civil War also interrupted education but this was later. Southern aristocratic ideas prevented education and they were always critical of Northern ways, so educational reform was criticized because it was Northern. Why educate when we had slaves, a superior work force. Since slaves were 3/5 votes, slaveholders had more votes than non slaveowners or smaller slaveholders. States were divided. Non- slaveowners continually pressed for middle class education. NC was an anomaly in antebellum south. It did enact a BOE with a Northerner in the head seat, Wiley. The South also wanted more homegrown teachers, texts, and curriculum. Racial justice was a liability in cosmopolitan school reform for Mann and for the Southern abolitionist, Henry Ruffner.
In the Midwest and South were heavily agricultural and sparsely populated. They had fewer cities and smaller ones. State lands and funds for education mismanaged. Yet by 1860 all Midwest states established state regulated, tax-based school systems while few southern states did. The Midwest's agricultural base was more diverse, the South was one crop. The South rejected most Northern concepts: republicanism, Protestantism, and capitalism, while the Midwest didn't.

9 Epilogue: The Legacy of Common Schooling

School reformers eventually won. It was difficult to be against progress and education fostered progress. This chapter needs to be reread often. Was it perfect, No. However most communities devoted some time and money to education. Women were crucial in the reform plan. Urban schools were highly structured. Common- schoolers believed schools could solve problems of diversity, instability, and equal opportunity. Cosmopolitan ideal proposes a more centrally directed and more standard application and delivery of curriculum.

For what it is worth, My opinion

Schools are the domain of the country. We rise and fall by our citizens. We are all responsible for the education of our citizens. We profit by the education of our citizens. I am glad to see our educators, business leaders, and politicians on the same page in regards to education. Education is in the forefront. Politicians are raising the standards and providing the monies for texts, hardware, and software. Businesses are involved in school- to-work programs, tech prep, Virtual Enterprises, and the like. Educators have come to find a balance between love of necessity of education. Teacher pay is still low, but all else is a lot better now than 6 years ago. I think one of the main contributing factors to this situation is the Internet. More on that later.