Education Reform

-A major reform movement that won widespread support was the effort to make education available to more children.

-Few areas had public schools--schools paid for by taxes.

-Wealthy parents sent their children to private school or hired tutors at home.

-On the frontier, 60 children might attend a part-time, one-room school.

-Their teachers had limited education and received little pay.

-Most children simply did not go to school. In the cities, some poor children stole, destroyed property, and set fires.

-Reformers believed that education would help these children escape poverty and become good citizens.

-Massachusetts

-The citizens voted to pay taxes to build better schools, to pay teachers higher salaries and to establish special training schools for teachers.

-By the mid-1800s, most states had accepted three basic principles of public education:

>That school should be free and supported by taxes.

>That teachers should be trained.

>That children should be required to attend school.

-By 1850, America still did not offer education to everyone. Most high schools and colleges did not admit females.

>When towns did allow African Americans to attend school, most made them go to separate schools that received less money.

>Education for women did make some progress.

Education Reform Public Service Announcement