Ehtisham Tariq - Part Two 1900-1950- As American As Public School

     In this week's class, we talked about how school was used as a way to get into the workforce. As stated in the introduction of part two in the book "School: The Story of American Public Education" by David Tyack, James D. Anderson, Larry Cuban, Carl F. Kaestle, Diane Ravitch, Sheila Curran Bernard, Sarah Mondale, and Meryl Streep, it states that "The first half of the twentieth century was a time of remarkable expansion for the American public school. Schools were called upon to teach the skills and knowledge needed for participation in a democratic industrial society to a rapidly growing and diverse population."(Tyack et al, pg. 63). What this means is that schools were used as a way to get jobs by teaching the students the different skills needed to function properly in an every-day lifestyle. Children at that time went to school to get jobs and support their families. 

     Also, "As the economy became more complex, students stayed in school longer to gain additional skills and knowledge. More and more districts established secondary schools, and high school enrollments increased dramatically in the early decades of the twentieth century. Education experts debated whether these new students should be expected to take the standard academic curriculum. The urgency of their debate heightened as high school enrollments soared, doubling every decade from 1890 to 1930. The extension of educational opportunity to so many youngsters was a triumph for the principle of universal education. An ever larger proportion of the population had the opportunity to attend secondary schools (though many African American youngsters lived in communities in the South where no high schools were available for them until mid-century)."(Tyack et al, pg. 64). As you can see, students were in school to gain knowledge aside from the academic knowledge they were gaining.

     Furthermore, in class we learned that students were taught how to work with their hands. Also we learned that how people from all over the world immigrated to the United States of America. In the article, Civic Education and Changing Definitions of American Identity, 1900-1950 by Jeffrey Mirel, it is stated that "Between 1900 and 1930, over 18.6 million people immigrated to the US, the largest percentage coming from eastern and southern Europe. This enormous migration, perhaps the largest mass movement in human history, included three million Slavs (mostly Poles), three million Italians and two million Jews. The largest non-European group was Mexicans, who numbered about one million. Educational leaders in major cities reported that some schools served children representing over 25 nationalities and language groups (Dinnerstein et al., 1990; Tyack, 1974; Lind, 1995)."(Mirel, 2002, pg. 144). 

     Lastly, I would like to say that we also learned and talked about how schools used the SAT's and the I.Q. to determine the capability of a student. They gave the student different assessments to see where the student is at academically. It were these different tests that determined where the student was at. We also discussed in class how these tests became extremely important to take for students. This is because this is what determined their academic capability.

     In conclusion, we talked about all of the ways students were assessed. We also talked about how students went to school mostly because they wanted to find a job to support their families. We also talked about why education was important. This is because it was very hard to find a job if you didn't have an education and that is still the case today. It is very important to be well-educated if you want to find a good job and have an easier lifestyle. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=School&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZgI6ggsXdAhUBmuAKHXhiAGEQ_AUIDygC&biw=1366&bih=662#imgrc=BKmWS6Em-YvLTM:

Playlist: The perfect back-to-school talks, from a TED intern

                                                                     References

1. Mondale, S., Streep, M., Tyack, D., Anderson, J.D., Cuban, L., Kaestle, C.F., Ravitch, D., Bernard, S.C., (2001). School: The Story of American Public Education. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

2. Mirel, Jeffrey (2002). Civic Education and Changing Definitions of American Identity, 1900-1950. Educational Review, 54(2), 143-152. doi: 10.1080/00131910220133239

3. https://www.google.com/search?q=School&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZgI6ggsXdAhUBmuAKHXhiAGEQ_AUIDygC&biw=1366&bih=662#imgrc=BKmWS6Em-YvLTM:

Playlist: The perfect back-to-school talks, from a TED intern